Not all wind turbines are alike. While the great majority are large steel towers fixed to the ground, a few are shaped like gliders, kites, and blimps, and move around freely.

Take the Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT), developed by Altaeros, a four-year-old company in Massachusetts. The BAT is a 60-foot-diameter helium aerostat with a three-blade-rotor spinning inside. It rises 1,000 feet off the ground and sends back power via high-strength tethers. And, it’s not nearly as cumbersome as it looks.

Altaeros recently announced a $1.3 million demonstration project in Alaska that will supply power to about a dozen homes. It’s also working on deals for remote sites in Australia and Canada, and the company has investment from a group controlled by Ratan Tata, the famed Indian industrialist.

See a company video here:

The BAT is aimed at remote regions where power is more expensive, and where other forms of alternative energy are hard to achieve, co-founder Adam Rein says. That includes parts of Alaska, which currently rely on diesel shipments and aren’t suitable for solar (because the sun doesn’t shine enough) or conventional wind turbines (because the permafrost won’t take deep pilings). “In winter, it’s hard to transport diesel to remote villages or industrial sites. Many areas only have road access for a few months a year,” Rein explains.

The Alaska project, which is partly funded by the Alaska Energy Authority’s Emerging Energy Technology Fund, will test the viability of the technology and give a sense of costs. Altaeros says the BAT will deliver power at about 18 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is more than most of the country, but still below what some Alaskan communities currently pay. It can also be used as a mobile phone mast, potentially providing another source of revenue.