Makani Power, a developer of wind turbine power generation has been acquired by Google.

The company is developing wind turbines attached to kites which in turn are fixed to ground perches. As wind speeds increase the wings unfold and kites take off.

“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.”
 
“Makani could not have reached this point without the support of the US Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program and the hard work of our talented team, past and present.
We look forward to working with our new colleagues at Google[x] to make airborne wind a cost-effective reality the company said in a statement on its web site.”
 

According to wikipedia the global numbers for fixed wind turbine power generation shows there are now over two hundred thousand wind turbines operating, with a total nameplate capacity of 282,482 MW as of end 2012. The European Union passed some 100,000 MW nameplate capacity in September 2012, while the United States surpassed 50,000 MW in August 2012 and China passed 50,000 MW the same month.