China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

The world's largest 5,000-sqm power-generating kite completed its first flight test on Wednesday in Alxa Left Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking a milestone in the country's development of high-altitude wind power, according to the kite's developer, China Energy Engineering Corporation Limited.

The kite achieved full in-air deployment and retraction during the testing.

The trial tested a land-based high-altitude wind power generation system that uses kites to capture wind energy, then pulls the generators on the ground to produce electricity.

High-altitude power generation technology enables capturing wind energy from altitudes above 300 meters and turning it into electricity using kites as its core equipment.

"We have completed the first deployment test of the world's largest [power-generation] kite and successfully finished data collection, providing a scientific basis for the design of the kite assembly, which will lay the foundation for deploying a complete set of equipment and for setting standards," said Cao Lun, chief director of the kite-opening test.

At high altitudes, the wind blows faster, stronger, and more consistently. High-altitude wind, as an uncharted territory in new energy, bears great potential for further development.

"We will conduct multi-kite flight tests and plan to launch power generation trials at the end of next year," said Huo Shaolei, senior technical expert at China Power Engineering Consulting Group Limited.

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

China completes flight test for world's largest power-generating kite

A veteran firefighter in Cali, the capital of Colombia's hard-hit Valle del Cauca province, participated in a harrowing rescue operation that followed the deadly earthquake on Monday and depicted the painstaking efforts to pull a mother and her son from the rubble of a collapsed building.

Nestor Giraldo, an emergency coordinator with the Cali volunteer fire brigade with 27 years of experience, rushed to the Tecundama district in southern Cali after the quake.

At the site of a collapsed five story building, his team located a mother and her son on what had been the third floor. Rescuers managed to pull the son out first. He was conscious, though injured in the head and legs, and was taken to a nearby hospital for further treatment.

However, the rescue became more complicated as they ventured deeper into the collapsed building to reach the mother.

"She was trapped about three meters deeper, but it felt like she was a world away. We had to chip through each floor, one by one, inch by inch, because the whole structure could come down on us at any time," said the firefighter.

The team had been on site since around 8:00, yet by 17:00, they were still working to get close enough to rescue her.

"Part of the building was pressing down on her legs and abdomen. The rescue was incredibly difficult, because she was in agony, trapped, and badly hurt. The gap for medics to crawl in and apply a tourniquet was so narrow that we couldn't make it any bigger. We couldn't get to her from above. We could only work from below," said Giraldo.

The mother was eventually rescued with the help of more than 40 rescuers from the fire department, The Red Cross, and other groups, as well as community members.

Giraldo said he would press on as he always has: to rescue the living, to recover the lost, and to offer whatever solace he can to the families left behind.

Colombian firefighter recalls urgent rescue of mother and son from collapsed building after quake