25 years of Wind Power development on Planet Earth

A story in photos from the years 1975 - 2000

Presented by early Blade manufacturer Erik Grove-Nielsen.

You can download pdf-copies of early brochures from 84 Wind Turbine Companies World Wide,
as well as high resolution images of many Turbines.

22 kW Riisager 1976	55 kW 1981	Offshore Power Plant 2013 - Siemens

A courageous Wind Power industry : An explosive growth in turbine size and efficiency, created by a daring wind power industry, helped by visionary and responsible politicians and investors all over the world, made it happen. (Illustration courtesy of DONG)		The example of Denmark : In 2014 roughly 40% of Denmark's electricity demand was produced by Wind Turbines on land and offshore. This was made possible by the cooperation between a visionary Energy Industry and farsighted Scandinavian politicians. Strong power cable connections between the Countries in Northern Europe is a necessary condition for this high wind power penetration. As the winds blow strong over Denmark, the Hydropower plants in Sweden and Norway can reduce their production for a while, and spare the accumulated water for times of low winds. Watch the power mix in the Danish Electricity grid: Download the APP for Smartphone or Tablet: "Energisystemet lige nu" from Energinet.dk

Not the result of central research !

As the world gathered at the COP 15 Climate Conference in Copenhagen December 2009 we did hope for political action, but politicians failed to deliver.

For encouragement, learn the lessons from the birth of the Danish Wind Industry in the last century.

At the time Danish statistician Bjorn Lomborg preached, that we should postpone all investments in renewable energy,

until intense central research had developed smarter and cheaper renewable technologies.

But this was all tried in the USA and Germany around 1980 with fatal results. Early research Turbines that were designed and built by clever aerospace engineers

at Boeing, Kaman, Westinghouse and M.A.N. were all severe failures. None of these "smart" designs made it to the market place!

In Denmark and Germany small companies began developing small Turbines, hand in hand with a "baby market" which was initially subsidized by visionary politicians

in the two countries. The competition in this early market made the best Turbines survive.

This is the real background for Vestas, Enercon, Siemens Wind Power and more. See the slideshow below, and visit the Turbine pages above.

WindsOfChange slideshow

But first and foremost, we stand on the shoulders of two Men,
who developed the early basis for the commercial breakthrough of Wind Power:

Poul la Cour 1846 - 1908	Poul la Cour Turbines Askov 1897	Gedser Turbine 1957	Johannes Juul 1887 - 1969