An investment worth £1 million will be made to accelerate commercial development of a kite power generation technology.

The money from the government’s Innovate UK agency will help British engineering consortium Kite Power Solutions (KPS) to create a 500kW kite turbine.

It will also support the deployment of its first 3MW onshore power system in 2019 and offshore in 2021.

The firm claims the product has the potential to transform the offshore wind market as it is cheaper to manufacture and easier to install than a conventional wind turbine.

The KPS consortium comprises BVG Associates, Artemis Intelligence Power, Imperial College London, the National Composites, Keynvor Morlift and Banks Sails.

David Ainsworth, KPS Business Development Director said: “Over the past three years, KPS has successfully demonstrated the potential for kite power generation and with our business partners we now have the opportunity to accelerate the technology’s commercial development so we can deploy low cost deep water, offshore wind energy on a global scale.”