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The History of Wind Power

The concept of capturing the kinetic energy of wind and converting it into useful mechanical work was first conceived in antiquity and has been put into practice - with varying degrees of success - by man ever since. Using wind (and water) was therefore mankind’s first attempt at transforming one source of energy - other than human force – into mechanical energy. Factual evidence for the use of wind energy from more than ca. 1000 years ago however is scarce and it can only be assumed, not proven, that wind energy has its roots in Asia and most likely in China. Despite this assumption, the first written document detailing the use of a vertical axis windmill in China for grain grinding and water pumping that has been found dates back to as recently as 1219 AD.

The earliest written mention of a rotating wind capturing device dates back to the third or second century BC and is attributed to Hero of Alexandria, who describes a simple horizontal axis windmill used for powering an organ. The first actual documented designs stem from Persia and the figure below shows a 19th century American-built replica of the so called Panemone.

Windmills first found widespread use in Europe during the 11th and 12th century for grinding grain and pumping water. In contrast to the ones developed in Asia and Persia, these were of the horizontal axis type. Another innovation of the western world was the use of aerodynamic lift type as opposed to the more simple (and inefficient) drag-type rotors. The gains from this innovation, in terms of power available for grinding and pumping, were significant.

These mills were the "electrical motor" of pre-industrial Europe. Applications were diverse, ranging from the common water well, irrigation, or drainage pumping using a scoop wheel (single or tandem), grain-grinding (again, using single or multiple stones), saw-milling of timber, and the processing of other commodities such as spices, cocoa, paints and dyes, and tobacco.

The invention of the steam engine in the 18th century rang in the rapid (and as it turns out temporary) demise of wind energy generation. Suddenly there was a source of power available that could provide far superior amounts of energy from a plant more compact in size than a windmill, was more versatile in its applications and most importantly was available on demand and no longer site-dependent.

The use of fossil fuel and associated thermodynamic processes had virtually replaced the use of wind as a source of energy and stood to conquer the industrial and domestic world of energy generation in the next three centuries.

Nevertheless, wind energy generation never completely disappeared, but was further developed by individuals and small companies and survived in niche applications such as the provision of electricity in sparsely populated areas with little electricity infrastructure. Even academic research into the use of and aerodynamic refinement of wind turbines continued throughout this time, most notable in the hands of Albert Betz and H. Glauert, whose work from the early 20th century is standard reading for all students of wind screw and rotor aerodynamics even today.

However, none of these efforts could be considered commercially or strategically significant in comparison with the way energy was being generated by the middle of the 20th century. This changed when the technology and external circumstances allowed the transition from individual scattered niche applications to the large-scale, mainstream use of wind turbines in the 1970s and 1980s. The kickstart for the renewed interest in renewable energy sources and wind energy in particular and the subsequently growing (strategic as well as commercial) importance of wind energy came hand in hand with the energy crisis in 1973, which made the world's largest energy user (the US) rethink it's dependency on oil imports and more fundamentally how energy is used and generated. In combination with state funded loans for wind energy and other legislative incentives a veritable wind energy boom took hold, of California in particular, in the ensuing years.

Unfortunately the rapid action taken by the US and Californian governments in response to the energy crisis, did not allow the fledging and disparate wind turbine industry to mature sufficiently to provide the technology for large scale grid connected wind farms with economically viable wind turbines. Many investors, blinded by the huge commercial incentives on offer, poured their money into projects, whose concepts were innovative but technically embryonic, mostly untested and in some cases even dangerous. Unsurprisingly financial disaster struck all but a few of these ambitious and pre-mature wind farms, which ended up being disconnected from the grid (if they were ever hooked up) and today can in many cases be seen decaying in the Californian desert.

By the early 1980s few industry experts would have denied that the American wind energy market was set for a take over by European wind turbine companies (with the Danes in the most prominent role), who had put their money on the development of the far more primitive and inefficient, but well-understood so called Gedser turbine design, whose most important feature is an upwind three-bladed rotor. This type of turbine was the precursor for what might call the "modern" wind turbine, which can now be seen in huge wind farm developments all around the world.

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