The science of windpower takes to the skies

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/oct/24-high-flying-windmills-blow-away-their-ground-based-cousins

Scientists are starting to see their ideas come to fruition with high flying windmills. This idea that was hatched several years ago is starting to take strides forward, with prototypes being made. These "flying windmills" are suspended several hundred meters above the ground, where the wind speeds are higher and less interfeared than on the ground. There are a few challenges to getting this new science up and running, including the consideration of wheter lightning strikes will affect the turbines, as well as developing a reliable way to anchor them to the ground. This technology, while less astetically pleasing than traditional wind turbines, has potential to generate an enormous amount of power (up to 250 times more than ground-based wind turbines). This is a big step forward for wind power production.