Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is acquiring Makani Power, a start-up company that develops Airborne Wind Turbines that are mounted to an un-manned, fixed-wing aircraft tethered to the ground like a kite.
According to report from Bloomberg’s Businessweek on Wednesday, Astro Teller, the director of Google X research lab requested the approval of Larry Page, CEO of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) to acquire Makani Power.
Teller gave his assurance to Page that Makani Power demonstrated promising results and the prototypes of the wind turbines passed all the recent tests. Page approved the acquisition. According to Teller, “He said [referring to Page] we could have the budget and the people to go do this, [Page demands] we had to make sure to crash at least five of the devices in the near future.” The amount of the transaction was undisclosed.
Makani’s confirmation:
Makani Power confirmed that Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is acquiring the company. In its website, the company wrote, “We are happy to announce that Makani is being acquired by Google.”
“This formalizes a long and productive relationship between our two companies, and will provide Makani with the resources to accelerate our work to make wind energy cost competitive with fossil fuels. The timing couldn’t be better, as we completed the first ever autonomous all-modes flight with our Wing 7 prototype last week,” added Makani Power.
According to Makani Power, the United States Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program and its current and previous team supported the company to reach its current position. Makani Power further stated, “We look forward to working with our new colleagues at Google[x] to make airborne wind a cost-effective reality.”
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is one of the companies that consumes large amount of power. The search engine giant is helping the energy industry to improve power generation by investing in projects like clean energy.
Teller emphasized the Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) had been interested in creating clean energy for years because the company believes that it is one of the most pressing issues confronting the world. He said, “Makani Power has opened the door to a radical new approach to wind energy. They’ve turned a technology that today involves hundreds of tons of steel and precious open space into a problem that can be solved with really intelligent software. We’re looking forward in bringing them into Google[x].”
Early this month, Makani Power tested a kite power system capable of generating 30 kW of power. The company is expected to develop models that can generate 600 kW.
