https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/18/alphabet-takes-the-wind-out-of-its-makani-energy-kites/ > Google today announced that it is calling it quits on its efforts to build and monetize its Makani wind energy kites. Manaki, which was founded in 2006, came into Google/Alphabet seven years ago as a Google X project. Last year, the company spun it out of X and made it a stand-alone Alphabet unit. Now, Makani’s time at Alphabet as an “Other Bet” is at an end. The company is still hoping to work with Shell, one of its earliest partners, to see how the technology can be used in another way, though. > “After considering many factors, I believe that the road to commercial viability is a much longer and riskier road than we’d hoped and that it no longer makes sense for Makani to be an Alphabet company,” says Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X and Chairman of the Makani Board, in a statement. Teller, it’s worth noting, does not oversee Alphabet’s Other Bets.