Kite Power Systems (www.kitepowersystems.com) has moved to a new office in Glasgow just nine months after establishing a presence in the city at the Tontine Innovation Centre.

The 4,100ft² office in the Central Business District will become the company’s new head office, housing 22 Glasgow-based staff in management and design engineering functions.

The company is developing a power system that involves kites spooling out from a drum (to heights up to 1,500ft), which turns a generator to produce electricity.

It claims that this has the potential to transform the global offshore wind generation market, as it is cheaper to manufacture and install than conventional wind turbines.

Last year, the company established a research and test facility on an MoD range at West Freugh (near Stranraer), after attracting £5 million of new investment from E.ON, Schlumberger and Shell Technology Ventures.

It currently has eight engineers and technicians at the test site.

Chief executive Simon Heyes said: “This move to a new head office in Glasgow underlines just how quickly the business has grown over the past nine months and it fully endorses our decision to relocate from Essex to Scotland, where we have been able to recruit many talented individuals to enable us to take our technology to the next level.”

Kite Power Systems is currently flight-testing a 40kW system at West Freugh. A 500kW demonstration model is being manufactured and assembled in Dumfries by Kellwood Engineering.