Will benefit people in rural areas.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: Google is in talks with the Indian government to implement its Loon Internet and kite-powered wind energy project Makani in the remote parts of the country, according to a report in The Times of India
Google had launched the Loon project in 2013 for connecting people in rural and remote areas to the internet and to help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters such as the one that struck Uttrakhand and Kashmir.
Google believes that the Loon Project can connect over five billion people to the Internet worldwide, who are living in the remote areas where Internet is still a distant dream.
According to the official website of Loon Project the “balloons float in the stratosphere, twice as high as airplanes and the weather. In the stratosphere, there are many layers of wind, and each layer of wind varies in direction and speed. Loon balloons go where they’re needed by rising or descending into a layer of wind blowing in the desired direction of travel.”
Google plans to partner with telecommunications companies to share cellular spectrum it enables so as to connect to the balloon network directly from people’s smartphones and other LTE-enabled devices.
With the kind of keenness India has shown in renewable energy, Google is also aiming to set up its kite-powered wind energy in India.
The wind energy project code named Makani targets to make a shift clean, renewable energy by developing energy kites, which is a new type of wind turbine that can generate energy in a cost effective way. The Kite, which has an aeroplane like design can reach up to a height of 300 meters and moves according to the direction of the wind generating power.