“the S2000 can easily be transported and stored in shipping containers,…its airborne design allows flexible deployment and retrieval, making it especially suitable for sparsely populated areas where large-scale infrastructure is difficult to build…………………Wang noted that the key to SAWES’ commercialization lies in whether the costs of manufacturing, deploying, retrieving, and transmitting electricity from the airborne system can be covered - or even exceeded - by the power it generates.”
It will be fascinating to see the economics of this. If these can be delivered in shipping containers it means they can be deployed almost anywhere. These would be the perfect way for places like Africa to expand their electricity generation capacity.
World’s first urban-use mW-class high-altitude wind turbine completes test flight
It actually doesn’t have that much more. It’s ~half the weight, but they’re both closer to vacuum than to air already.
On the other hand, boy is it cheaper.
About 10x cheaper, if anyone is curious. Hydrogen has containment difficulties beyond its flammability though: it embrittles materials and leaks very easily.