Makani's Journey from Alphabet to Independence

Makani's Journey from Alphabet to Independence began in 2006, when the company was founded as a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet.

Makani's early focus was on developing innovative wind energy technology, which led to the creation of the Makani kite, a high-altitude wind turbine designed to harness the power of wind at high elevations.

In 2013, Makani made a significant breakthrough with the successful testing of its 600-meter-tall wind turbine, which generated 600 kilowatts of power.

This achievement marked a major milestone for Makani, demonstrating the potential of its technology to revolutionize the renewable energy industry.

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Makani's parent company, Google, acquired the company in 2013 for a reported $60 million. Makani's technology was later sold to Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in 2016.

Alphabet's investment in Makani provided the necessary resources for the company to scale up its operations and expand its team. The acquisition allowed Makani to focus on developing its wind energy technology without the burden of funding.

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Alphabet has called it quits on its Makani wind energy kites project.

Makani was founded in 2006 and came into Alphabet seven years ago as a Google X project. It was spun out of X and made a standalone Alphabet unit last year.

The company still hopes to work with Shell, one of its earliest partners, to see how the technology can be used in another way.

Astro Teller, captain of Moonshots at X and chairman of the Makani board, says the road to commercial viability is a much longer and riskier road than hoped.

Teller notes that remaining clear-eyed and directing resources to the opportunities where they think they can have the greatest impact is essential when it comes to the climate crisis.

Makani managed to get a 20kW demonstration project off the ground and expanded this to a unit capable of producing up to 600kW while at X/Alphabet.

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Despite strong technical progress, the road to commercialization is longer and riskier than hoped, according to Fort Felker, who became the lead for Makani at X in 2015.

Google X's acquisition of Makani Power and its airborne wind turbines happened in the past, and now Alphabet is moving on from this project.

Makani has graduated from the X Moonshot Factory to become an independent Alphabet company. This is a significant milestone for the project.

Makani is partnering with Shell to expand its operations to offshore environments. This is a major step forward for the project.

The company will be using its energy kites to harness wind power in areas that are previously inaccessible. This is because two-thirds of coastal waters globally are too deep for today's wind technology to economically access these resources.

Makani's kites are 90% lighter than turbines of a similar power rating, making them a more efficient option. This is due to the use of lightweight electronics and smart software.

The company will be testing its new floating offshore system in Norway later this year. This will be a key step in scaling its commercial operations.

Makani will continue to test its technology in Hawaii, but its focus is now on scaling commercially.

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Makani's kite-energy system uses autonomous tethered wings that fly in a circular path.

The system generates electricity via wind turbines mounted on the main wing, a method known as crosswind kite power.

This method was originally envisioned by Miles Loyd in a 1980 paper.

Flying the generators was expected to be disfavored for large-scale purposes due to the need to fly the mass of the generators.

In contrast, many of Makani Power's competitors keep their generators on the ground, like KiteGen, Italy.

The electricity is generated on the ground in the tether, utilizing tension in the cable connected to the kite.

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