The drones would harvest solar, wind and heat power, beam it down to Earth

Nov 26, 2013 20:16 GMT  ·  By
Researchers are working on developing drones able to harvest green energy at considerable heights
   Researchers are working on developing drones able to harvest green energy at considerable heights

Researchers working with UK-based company New Wave Energy are now looking into the possibility of using drones as a means to harvest green energy at heights of about 50,000 feet (15,240 meters).

They say that the flying units they are now developing would harvest energy from multiple sources, i.e. solar, wind and heat.

They would use some of this energy to power themselves and remain airlift, and beam the rest down to Earth. Once here, the energy would serve to power households, office buildings and the like, Oil Price reports.

Each one such drone would sport four rotors whose job would be to keep it airlifted, several wind turbines and a central solar panel.

Specialists estimate that, of the energy generated by the wind turbines and the solar panels, some 50kW will make it back to work in the form of electromagnetic waves.

The scientists maintain that, although the initiative is still in its early days, it has the potential to transform the energy industry.

“The new patent pending technology proposed by this aspiring company is an exciting new form of high altitude drone based power plant for combined solar, wind, heat and emerging new forms of energy generation,” New Wave Energy details in a press release.

“The technology is a wireless solution which will incorporate wireless power transmission from the drones (and their wireless network) to the Earth's surface, another new technology developed by multiple bodies in the USA and Japan for energy production using solar satellites,” it adds.

The people working on this project say that, at first, the technology will be tested in areas struck by natural disasters. Here, it will provide the power needed to carry out search and rescue missions.

Later on, it will be deployed in developing regions that are not connected to a grid. Once thoroughly tested and proven effective, the drones will hopefully be implemented on a countrywide scale.