How Chinese scientists turned a giant kite into a flying power plant

China has successfully deployed the world’s largest power-generating kite, capable of harnessing the potential of energy-dense, high-altitude winds to provide cheaper power than traditional surface turbines.

The 5,000 square-metre (53,820 square-foot) high-altitude wind power capture kite was unfurled at a test site at Alxa Left Banner in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region on Wednesday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Resembling a parachute, the power-generating kite was developed by the China Energy Engineering Corporation as part of the country’s first national research and development project for high-altitude wind power.

Tethered to a generator on the ground, the kite can fly at an altitude exceeding 300 metres (984 feet).

During the tests, the 5,000 square-metre kite – about the size of 11 standard NBA basketball courts – as well as two connected 1,200 square-metre kites were lifted into the air by helium balloons and successfully deployed and retracted.

Cao Lun, chief commander of the national high-altitude wind project, told state news agency Xinhua on Wednesday that the experiment measured the tension of the kite “in natural wind conditions when it is open and then calculated its opening characteristics”.