wind energy

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© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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for the World Wind Power The Rise of Modern Wind Energy

Preben Maegaard Anna Krenz Wolfgang Palz

editors

for the World Wind Power The Rise of Modern Wind Energy

Preben Maegaard Anna Krenz Wolfgang Palz

editors

Pan Stanford Series on Renewable Energy

Volume 2

© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business

No claim to original U.S. Government works Version Date: 20130523

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The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind, the answer is blowin’ in the wind . . .

—Bob Dylan

© 2013 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

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Contents

Preface xix Acknowledgements xxi Introduction xxv

1. The Wind Power Story 1

Ross Jackson

1.1 Ecological Overload 2 1.2 Climate Change 3 1.3 Peak Oil 5 1.4 Energy Alternatives 7 1.5 The Energy Trap 10 1.6 Conclusion 11

2. Forty Years of Wind Energy Development 13

Jos Beurskens

2.1 The Emergence of the Wind Energy Industry 14 2.2 National Programs 18 2.3 European Wind Turbine Development 21 2.4 Research and Development 25 2.5 International Networks 28 2.6 Concluding Remarks 28

3. History of Danish Wind Power 33

Benny Christensen

3.1 Industrial Windmill Production: 1876–1900 34 3.2 The Pioneer Work of Poul la Cour: 1891–1902 36 3.3 Wind Electricity for Rural Areas: 1903–1919 39 3.4 The First “Golden Age” of Danish Wind

Power: 1900–1920 42 3.5 Denmark on a Different Path of Windmill

Production 44

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viii Contents

3.6 New Technology and Survival Strategies in the 1920s 46

3.7 Technological Development during the Second World War 51

3.8 From DC to AC: Juul’s First Experiments after the War 55

3.9 Post-War Development Blocked by Cheap Oil and Coal 57

3.10 Re-Invention of Wind Power: 1975–1976 60 3.11 The NASA Connection: 1974–1978 63 3.12 The Tvind Wind Turbine: 1975–1978 66 3.13 Blades for a New Wind Turbine Generation 69 3.14 The Birth of the “Danish Concept”: 1978–1979 72 3.15 Establishing the New Industry: 1979–1981 74 3.16 Danish Export to California: 1982–1986 77 3.17 Public Support, Political Scepticism and

Local Participation 79 3.18 New Ambitious Targets for Wind

Energy: 1990–1996 81 3.19 Wind Power Goes Offshore 84 3.20 Political Changes, and Changes of

Mind: 2001–2011 85 3.21 Denmark Is Still Ahead: 2012 87

4. The Aerodynamic Research on Windmill Sails of Poul la Cour, 1896–1900 93

Povl-Otto Nissen

4.1 Introduction 94 4.2 The First Danish Electricity-Producing Windmill 94 4.3 How to Store Wind Energy 99 4.4 An Aerodynamic Surprise 100 4.5 Further Aerodynamic Research 103 4.6 The “Ideal” Windmill 108 4.7 Conclusions 111

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ixContents

5. Networks of Wind Energy Enthusiasts and the Development of the “Danish Concept” 115

Katherine Dykes

5.1 Introduction 115 5.2 Historical Wind Technology Development 118 5.3 Wind Actor-Networks in Denmark 125 5.3.1 The Founding of NIVE and Its Early

Activities 127 5.3.2 Anti-Nuclear Movement, OVE and

the Tvind Turbine 130 5.3.3 From Tvind, NIVE and Others to the

Development of the “Danish Concept” 140 5.3.4 Growing the Danish Wind Networks

and Industry 144 5.3.5 The Influence of Uncertainty on the

“Danish Concept” 148 5.3.6 The Risø Test Station: A “Mega-Network”

for Danish Wind Energy 152 5.4 Conclusions 156

6. Danish Pioneering of Modern Wind Power 163

Niels I. Meyer

6.1 It Began Already in the 1890s 164 6.2 Global Oil Crisis 167 6.3 Nuclear Controversy in Denmark 168 6.4 Test Station for Wind Turbines 171 6.5 Official Danish Committees for Promotion of

Renewable Energy 171 6.6 The Golden Nineties for Danish Wind Power 174 6.7 Conclusions 176

7. From Energy Crisis to Industrial Adventure: A Chronicle 181

Preben Maegaard

7.1 Politicians’ Relations with Wind Power 181

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x Contents

7.2 Big Business 184 7.3 Responsible Solutions 185 7.4 Prophets and Demagogues 186 7.5 Getting Together 187 7.6 The Pioneers’ Pop-Up 188 7.7 The Swedish Connection 189 7.8 Juul’s Heritage 192 7.8.1 Juul’s Record Stood for Almost 30 Years 195 7.8.2 Windmill Pioneer Christian Riisager 198 7.9 The National Wind Power versus Tvind’s

Bottom-Up Program 203 7.9.1 Money Alone Makes No Difference 205 7.9.2 Giants and Their Strategies 209 7.10 From NIVE to Master Blacksmiths: The

Follow-Up on La Cour’s Tradition 212 7.10.1 Lessons Learned 213 7.10.2 Knowledge for All 215 7.10.3 Local Manufacturers 220 7.10.4 The Blacksmiths’ Heritage 227 7.11 The Blades Are the Core of It All 231 7.11.1 No Blades, No Windmills 231 7.11.2 The “Winning” Blade Concept 233 7.12 The Windmill Industry Goes International 237 7.12.1 LM: The Blade Giant 238 7.12.2 Vestas also Becomes Manufacturer

of Blades 242 7.12.3 A Zealandic Blade Factory 243

8. Økær Vind Energi—Standard Blades for the Early Wind Industry 249

Erik Grove-Nielsen

8.1 Nuclear Power—No Thanks! 250 8.2 Learning by Doing 252 8.3 Against the Wind 253 8.4 Big Players 258

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8.5 Standard Components Available to All, No Exclusive Sales 261

8.6 The Second Serious Blade Failure 262 8.7 The Danish Concept 264

9. From Herborg Blacksmith to Vestas 267

Henrik Stiesdal

9.1 Theory Is Not Enough 268 9.2 My First Accident 269 9.3 The Price of a Wind turbine Is One Krone

per Kilogram 271 9.4 OVE Safety Guidelines 272 9.5 Æ Dunderværk 273 9.6 Entering the Inventors’ Bureau 274 9.7 From Sail Blades to Wooden Blades 276 9.8 From Herborg to Vestas 278 9.9 Will Power and Drive 280

10. From Danregn to Bonus 283

Egon Kristensen

10.1 In Search of Inspiration 283 10.2 A Crazy Idea 284 10.3 Important Fundamental Rules 285 10.4 Quite a Good Thing to Be Little Behindhand 285 10.5 When I Grow Old 288

11. Vind-Syssel 1985–1990 291

Flemming Østergaard

11.1 Vind-Syssel 291 11.2 Background 292 11.3 Founding Vind-Syssel 293 11.4 The Beginning 295 11.5 The Iron Curtain 297 11.6 The Vind-Syssel WTG 298

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11.7 Vind-Syssel’s First Manufacturing Facilities in Jerslev 300

11.8 The United States 302 11.9 “Middelgrunden Wind Farm”, Copenhagen 304 11.10 Vind-Syssel Finally Closed in 1990 305

12. The Story of Dencon 309

Bent Gregersen

12.1 Powerful Island 309 12.2 Denmark’s First Wind Farm 311 12.3 Innovative Concepts 312 12.4 Going Up and Down 314

13. Water Brake Windmills 317

Jørgen Krogsgaard

13.1 Background 317 13.1.1 Liquid Brakes 318 13.1.2 Water Brakes and Windmills 318 13.2 Developing Water Brake Windmills 319 13.2.1 Institute of Agricultural Engineering 319 13.2.2 Gunnar Broe and Værløse Group 321 13.2.3 Windmill Group ECO-RA 321 13.2.4 The Calorius Windmill 323 13.2.5 The Svaneborg Windmill 324 13.2.6 LO-FA Heat-Producing Windmill 324 13.2.7 Ørn Helgason 325 13.2.8 Gerlev 326 13.3 Conclusion 328

14. Cooperative Energy Movement in Copenhagen 331

Jens Larsen

14.1 No More Space on Land 331 14.2 Middelgrunden Offshore Wind Farm 332 14.3 Cooperative Movement—Important Player

in the Future 334

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xiiiContents

15. The Danish Small Wind Power 337

Jane Kruse

15.1 Overview 337 15.2 The Market Potential 338 15.3 The Transition to Decentralised Power

in Denmark 341 15.3.1 Danish Legal Framework of Household

Renewable Energy Supply 343 15.3.2 Danish Institutional Framework for

Small Wind Power 345 15.4 Small Wind Turbines at the Folkecenter 346 15.4.1 Development and Testing 346 15.4.2 Application of Small Wind Power at

the Folkecenter 348 15.5 Future of Small Wind Turbines 351

16. Consigned to Oblivion 355

Preben Maegaard

16.1 Introduction 355 16.2 Home-Made Inventions 356 16.3 The Quite, Quite Different Ones 358 16.4 A Very Personal Experience 361 16.5 Turning Wind into Heating 363 16.6 The “Folke” Windmill: One Blade Suffices 367 16.7 The Kramsbjerg Windmill: A Technical

Innovation 368 16.8 The Ring Generator Turns Up 369 16.9 An Organic Windmill 371 16.10 From Grassroot to Producer 373 16.11 The Fascinating Egg Beater 375 16.12 The Phenomenon Borre 377 16.13 Wind Matic and Tellus 379 16.14 A Genuine Pioneer: Claus Nybroe 383

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xiv Contents

17. Hütter’s Heritage: The Stuttgart School 387

Bernward Janzing and Jan Oelker

17.1 The Lack of Energy 387 17.2 The Dream of Flying and First Theoretical

Works for Wind Energy 389 17.3 Allgaier’s Investments 391 17.4 The 100 kW Challenge 393 17.5 Changes of Interest 397 17.6 The Birth of GROWIAN 398 17.7 Limit of Feasibility 402 17.8 Hütter’s Heritage 403

18. Overview of German Wind Industry Roots 407

Arne Jaeger

18.1 Introduction 407 18.2 Early Activities in the 1980s 409 18.2.1 Summary of German 1980s Wind

Power Activities 409 18.2.1.1 General overview 409 18.2.1.2 Overview of federal wind

projects 411 18.2.1.3 Influence of Ulrich Hütter 415 18.2.1.4 Early foreign influence

from Denmark 416 18.2.2 German Pioneers 417 18.3 The Wind Boom of the 1990s 428 18.3.1 Summary of German 1990s Wind

Power Activities 428 18.3.2 New Manufactures 430 18.4 The Success Story of Wind in Germany 436 18.4.1 Constant Research and Innovation 436 18.4.2 A Strong Support Program 438 18.4.3 Political Support 439 18.4.4 Reliable Foreign Wind Turbines 439 18.4.5 A Working Network 440 18.4.6 Strong Of fshore Approach 440

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xvContents

19. Direct Drive Wind Turbines 445

Friedrich Klinger

19.1 Introduction 445 19.2 The Drive Train Evolution 448 19.3 Direct Drive Revolution 450 19.4 Prototypes and Beyond 452 19.5 Direct Drive Pioneers 457

20. How the Early 1980s Micro- and Power-Electronics Innovation in Germany Revolutionised Wind Energy Systems 463

Jürgen Sachau

20.1 University Pioneering from Theory to Practice 463 20.2 Putting Technology to Work for

Integrated Systems 468 20.3 European Modular Systems Technology 471 20.4 Defending Progress 474 20.5 On the Path towards 100% Renewable

Energies 475

21. How the Electricity Feed-In Law (Stromeinspeisungsgesetz) Came to Be Passed by the German Parliament, Enabling Renewable Energies to Establish Their Position in the Market 479

Ulrich Jochimsen

21.1 The German Renewable Energy Association (Bundesverband Erneuerbare Energie) Is Founded to Safeguard the Feed-In Law 483

21.2 The Ongoing Destruction of Our Public Services and the Very Basis of Our Existence 485

22. Wind, Women, Art, Acceptance 491

Brigitte Schmidt

22.1 How Did It Start with the ‘Wind’? 492 22.2 Planning Phase 493 22.3 Citizens’ Participation, but How? 497 22.4 No Fear of Megawatts and Millions 507

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22.5 Friends from All over Europe 508 22.6 The Justice of the German Electricity Industry 510 22.7 Operational Availability 512 22.8 What’s Next? 513

23. California: Wind Farms Retrospective 515

Arne Jaeger

23.1 Introduction 515 23.2 Historical Development 516 23.2.1 The 1970s US Wind Activities and

Background of the Late 1970s for the Californian Case 516

23.2.2 1981–1985: The First Five Years 518 23.2.3 1986–1990: Crash, Market Shrinking

and Repairs 526 23.3 The Retrospective in Detail 532 23.3.1 What Can Be Seen Today 532 23.3.2 Why California’s Wind Farms Are

Unique 537

24. Emergence of Wind Energy: The University of Massachusetts 541

James F. Manwell

24.1 The Renewable Energy Vision of William Heronemus 544

24.2 Significance of the First UMass Wind Turbine, WF-1 544

24.3 Another Path to Renewable Energy 546 24.4 Engineering and Education for a Renewable

Energy Future 547

25. An American Personal Perspective 555

Steven B. Smiley and Susan J. Kopka

25.1 Introduction 555 25.2 From Denmark to Alaska 556

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25.3 Political Winds 558 25.4 Lessons from California 560 25.5 Small Wind Power 563 25.6 Living off the Grid 564 25.7 Romanian Grid 565 25.8 Fighting with Windmills 566 25.9 It Is (also) about Money 568 25.10 The Matter of Scale 569

26. Residential Wind by Way of Illustration 573

Igor Avkshtol

26.1 The Story 573 26.2 The Company 574 26.3 Engineers and Designers 575 26.4 The Turbine 576 26.5 Normal Operation—Peak Power Tracking 581 26.6 Slow Mode 582 26.7 Stop Mode 583 26.8 Blown Fuse Mode 584 26.9 Equalising Mode 584 26.10 Happy End 585

27. Wind Power in China: Chasing a Dream that Creates Value 589

Qin Haiyan

27.1 Wu Gang’s Dream and Philosophy 589 27.2 Goldwin’s Challenge 592 27.3 Developing Certificates for China 594 27.4 The Power of Sinovel 595 27.5 Towards the Sea 598 27.6 Success of Zhongfu Lianzhong 600 27.7 Wind Power Pioneers 605 27.8 Looking Ahead 609

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28. Rising Wind Power Industry of XEMC 611

Zhou Jianxiong

28.1 Brief Introduction to Xiangtan Electric Manufacturing Company 611

28.2 Development Course and Superiority of XEMC in the Wind Power Industry 613

28.2.1 Long Development History 613 28.2.2 Solid Technical Strength 614 28.2.3 Leading Direct-Drive Types 615 28.2.4 Complete Product Series 615 28.2.5 Complete Test System 616 28.2.6 Convenient Marketing Channels 617 28.2.7 Outstanding Sales Performance 617 28.2.8 Public Praise on the Market 617 28.3 Rising Wind Power Industry of XEMC 618

Name Index 621 Subject Index 627

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Preface

We are happy to introduce Wind Power for the World, a book on the generation of electricity from wind. The book intends to present to the general public how wind power was able to conquer in less than 20 years a global market share of 250 GW and provide the perspective of the markets to come. Preben Maegaard and Anna Krenz of the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy in Denmark have put this remarkable book from over 50 pioneers of wind power together. I take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all of them. Pan Stanford Publishing, Singapore, had launched a book series Pan Stanford Series on Renewable Energy in 2010, starting with a book on photovoltaics. This book is the second in this series. Others will follow. I am confident that the book will make its mark to the further success of wind power everywhere on our globe.

Wolfgang Palz Series editor

Paris Summer 2013

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Acknowledgements

Bob Dylan’s song was played again and again when the idea of the Folkecenter was first announced to the public more than three decades ago by Holger Sindbaek (1938–1990), a blind radio journalist. Although Holger could not see the beauty and colours of this wonderful world, he had the passion and vision that with joined forces it was still possible to have a common future, free of the fossil fuels and atomic energy. Soon the idea got general support—also from the government of Denmark. As the fossil fuels and the atomic energy are limited resources they involve tremendous risks to the future of mankind, being the main cause of urgent worldwide climatic, environmental and economic crisis. The renewable energies are the answer, the promise to future generations. Life in harmony with nature is possible by using the abundance of perpetual sources of energy from the sun and the wind, a vague but realistic vision as our blind radio journalist saw it. Wind Power for the World, a book of this type and size is possible only with generous financial support. It found one sponsor—the Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy in Denmark. Despite its rather limited resources, the Folkecenter made it possible to edit a publication about modern wind energy, and which in itself is symbolic of the center’s core activity since it was founded. The support provided the means to present to the world community the most comprehensive book ever published about the history of modern power with its all many facets. I thank Stanford Chong that he insisted to publish a book on wind energy, a follow-up of Dr Wolfgang Palz’s book from 2010, Power for the World: The Emergence of Electricity from the Sun. I also thank all the many authors from the five continents who so enthusiastically delivered their contributions. Without their efforts, visuals and papers, this book project would not have been possible. Someone has to coordinate and organise the many manuscripts, and sometimes even remind the authors of the deadlines as well as have their approval of changes that inevitably occur. For this, I

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xxii

thank Anna Krenz most heartedly. Together with Wolfgang Palz, the three of us formed a harmonious troika that maintained the focus of the book project even if it by variety and volume continued to grow and grow. For Anna Krenz, no detail was too small or too big, and in the end we included her as one of the authors. I thank my secretary, Nicolaj Stenkjær, for his steadiness in doing many of the trivial but necessary details. Finally I owe endless gratitude to my wife, Jane. She supported Wolfgang’s proposal for my involvement as lead author without any delay. Patience and some sacrifices are unavoidable followers when you hold the many hundred pages of manuscripts and visuals in your hands. But Jane stood by my side and encouraged when needed till the very end.

Preben Maegaard

Denmark

May 5, 2013

Danish Day of Liberation

Acknowledgements

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xxiiiAcknowledgements

My personal adventure with renewable energy began more than 10 years ago, when I started my graduate studies in energy, environment and sustainable design at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA). It would be nothing special, if not the fact that it was my first (very) long trip abroad, really being thrown into cold water on the western side of the curtain. I was born and raised in Poland, in the times of the communist era. What can I say—it was all different back then. When I had finished my master’s studies at the AA School, I went home. I did not have any plans really—renewable energies were not so much present in the academic or popular scene in Poland. Actually, back then, nobody wanted to hear about that. And then my fellow student from AA called and said, “Why don’t you go and visit my dad at the Folkecenter?” Why not? And I did. It was in 2002. Since that year I have been coming to Folkecenter every year, and I spend some weeks there, being always welcomed by warm-hearted Jane Kruse and inspiring Preben Maegaard. Looking back, Folkecenter was a culture (and technological) shock for me. I have never met in my life people so much devoted to their cause, and this cause was a noble one. I was learning not only about renewable energy, sustainable solutions or specific technologies but about people—people are the key. Being at the Folkecenter, I came to experience the notion of “respect”—respect towards another human being (something hard to find in my homeland) and towards nature (in all its rough majesty), while bending heads towards the wind. Starting with this book I was thrown into cold water again. When Preben asked me to make a book about wind power with him, I did not hesitate for a second. Since all these years we have known each other—I never said no to any of his challenges—and they always resulted in very hard work, but also satisfaction of learning something new and surpassing own limits. The wind book project grew and evolved week to week. I talked and wrote to so many people—all of whom are the people of modern wind power. The more I read, the more I felt immense respect towards their achievements. It is truly unique to see people behind the development of what we today often take for granted—modern wind turbines—that originated many times from a sketch, from an experiment (even a failed one), from a stubborn urge to invent

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and make things work. For me, it was all history. For Preben, it is his story, his own life, his and many others’ fight for the windmills. These stories needed to be told. I am proud to be part of this project, and I am deeply grateful to Preben who asked me to join this project. Our collaboration, as always, was a great inspiring journey, challenging beyond limits. And I would like to thank all the authors, who agreed to share their stories, their thoughts and experiences. At the same time I would like to thank all our collaborators, who engaged in the process of making of this book and helped us with their best knowledge and skills—proofreaders Jarra Hicks, Ron Ofer, JoAnna Woodruff, Natalie Rouskov, and Mike Eckhard; translators Ronny Spuer and Luise Hemmer Pihl; Nicolaj Stenkjær for support. My sincere gratitude goes to the publisher Stanford Chong for immediate responses to my technical and metaphysical queries and also to Shivani Sharma for the most brilliant cooperation towards the intensive end of the process of making of this book. And last but not least, Jane Kruse for always being there for us, my husband, Jacek Slaski, for his patience and understanding and my mom, Lonia Krenz, for travelling with me to Folkecenter and taking care of our little son, Anton (a three-year-old windmill fan), when I was working.

Anna Krenz Lead editor

Berlin

Summer 2013

Acknowledgements

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Introduction

Numerous books about wind energy have been published, addressed to professionals, investors, academia, ordinary users, environmentalists and several other potential sorts of interested circles. However, among the many publications none had a special focus on the emergence of modern wind power seen from an international perspective; the process that resulted in well- functioning, affordable wind turbines. Basically, the story behind the scenes had to be told. The book Wind Power for the World is for non-specialists and wind energy science and technology are covered to the strict minimum. The book is in two volumes: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy and International Reviews and Developments. In the first volume, we tell the story about how it became possible for wind power to develop during an almost 40-year period and emerge as a world-wide business of EUR 30 billion per year employing almost one million people by 2013. In the second volume of the book, we have collected reports and overviews of wind power status and history in various countries. The uphill struggle that made it happen; wind energy strategies and policies that paved the way; the creative persons in politics, agencies and institutes; the industry; the world societies at large; and the challenges for which a solution was found at the end are the main topics presented in this book. The book’s richly facetted stories are presented by over 50 experts from various areas of the renewable energy sector. Several of them are seniors who have made it all the way. They were first involved in their home countries and then at the international scene at the scientific, engineering, organisational, or political level, and have made valuable contributions to the successful emergence of wind power. Without their professionalism, dedication and persistence, wind power might still have been in its infancy. The rising global climate and resource crisis, the increasing energy prices as well as the working of time, resulted in an astonishing technological development and reduced costs of equipment, which gradually made wind energy a realistic substitute for the conventional

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fossil fuels. The visionaries who created the way out of the feared fossil fuel and uranium trap have interesting stories to tell. Only few countries took the initiative to proliferate contem- porary wind power. We, as editors of the book, decided to focus mainly on three of these countries in the first volume: Denmark, with its absolute dominance from 1975 and for the following 15 years; Germany, which with its progressive legislation demonstrated that political visions and will, more than good wind resources, made Europe’s largest economy a champion of wind energy; and China, which started from almost zero in 2005, but entered the arena with a concerted effort, and just five years later could celebrate its role as the global no. 1 in wind power sector, both in terms of installed and manufacturing capacity. A Chinese proverb says that even on the longest march, the first step has to be taken. China has shown a direction. Other countries can still use this as an example. Some readers may find that the achievements of Denmark in the early phase of the contemporary wind energy development are overrepresented; however, most of the stories of the period have never been presented earlier to an international audience, and quite much of what happened since 1975 is still a historical mystery. All told and with respect to every effort made to make wind energy a unique success, a search for the roots of the story points especially to the role of Denmark. Here, the first commercial, reliable and affordable wind turbines appeared as people’s response to an oil crisis that had caused severe unemployment and financial problems for this small north European country’s five million people. Denmark relied almost 100% on imported oil for heating, electricity and mobility. A paradigm shift within the supply of energy was absolutely necessary. Fortunately, a large number of people were ready to spend their savings to purchase a wind turbine. At the same time many other people had visions and passion to design and manufacture the perfect windmill, that within a five-year period, through the trial-and-error method and countless experiments, resulted in what proved to become the contemporary wind turbine concept and the basis of large-scale, worldwide industrialisation. When we decided to bring up this book on wind power, we looked 40 years back to find the roots of this exciting development

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and recognised that the cradle of the modern wind turbine stood in Denmark and a bottom-up development was the solution. We realised that this is the right time to get authentic stories from the Danish authors, who themselves were often part of this breakthrough, and have first-hand reports to bring forth the most important events, technologies, successes as well as mistakes. It may soon be too late. The pioneers had to acquire fundamental knowledge on aerodynamics, technology and controls; make mistakes; learn from experience and often ruin their own economy—but every time someone would take over and experiences would not go wasted. The development of wind power was based on whatever worked best, while the negative results were left behind when they did not turn out to be any good. Thus, it is a long cavalcade of developers, inventors and manufacturers who each gave their big or small contributions to what took its beginning in 1975 and, in the course of five to eight years, became a real modern industry. In that period the Danish concept was defined; reliable and affordable wind turbines became available. The first uncertain steps into the Fourth Revolution—the transition to renewable energies— were taken in Denmark in the same period when the heroes of the Third Revolution, people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, fumbled with and engineered their equipment and software for some of the first commercially successful personal computers, the backbone of the information society that later reached out to every corner of the world. However, there is a decisive difference. Bill Gates for his part kept the copyright of his operating system for himself. He believed that other vendors would clone it. The Danish wind energy pioneers in contrast had grown up in a totally different tradition: open source. When Denmark in 1895 got its first patent law, technologies and processes for use in agriculture were explicitly excluded from copyrights and patents. This principle of openness and sharing of knowledge by the Danish wind energy pioneers was maintained as extremely essential for the innovative culture. There was no fear of ideas being cloned and concrete solutions were never protetcted by copyrights or patents. The principle learned from Poul la Cour, the Danish wind energy pioneer 100 years earlier, was as follows: Patents, if any, should belong to the Danish people.

Introduction

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For decades, the universities had severely neglected research and capacity building within renewable energy, not realising that the fossil and atomic era would some day come to an end. Therefore, the Danish wind energy pioneers wanted the scarce technology know-how to be freely available to anyone who wanted to use and clone it. They believed that energy from the wind and the sun belonged to us all, and therefore, the knowledge to harvest renewable energies should be part of the heritage of mankind. During the 1980s, wind industry in the United States, the biggest economy of the world, passed through a rapid rise and fall with later ups and downs, while the young German industry attached to the Danish supply chain with its specialised, independent suppliers of blades, control systems, etc. Emerging manufacturers made robust wind turbines long before the first German renewable energy law opened the market for large-scale investments and regular industrialisation. Wind power soon gained significant shares at the cost of conventional power sector that was dominated by big and politically influential power oligopolies. In 1995, Spain introduced the German version of the feed-in tariffs (FITs)—the key to rapid and decentralised renewable energy development. The country did not rely on imported wind turbines and got its own advanced manufacturing sector with brands that became well known in the international market. Ten years later in 2005, China, in search for additional electricity production capacity and with an eye for a new industrial growth sector, also joined the wind energy frontrunners. By opening the door for the best available technology, the biggest nation in the world diligently avoided mistakes that delayed the industrialisation in most other countries. Soon China got its own complete supply chain and more than 50 MW–size suppliers of wind turbines. After a five-year period of concerted effort, a completely new industry emerged that made China the absolute leader in the wind power sector, both in terms of manufacturing and installed capacity.

A Roadmap in Pursuit of the Legend of Modern Wind Power

With the rediscovery of the asynchronous generator, this book presents various sides of the origin of the contemporary wind turbine design and acknowledge people who made crucial conceptual and technological contributions in the wind power revolution, especially Johannes Juul and Christian Riisager. In 1976, Christian

Introduction

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Riisager was the first to commercialise a small wind turbine using J. Juul’s design principles from the 1950s and like other manufactures could sell it to Danish people willing to spend their money on alternatives to the imported oil. It was not the hybrid blade technology of Juul and Riisager, however, that lead the way to the development of the so-called Danish Concept, but the 2 MW Tvind windmill, designed and built by a group of amateurs and idealists from the Tvind School. In 1976, Tvind transferred Professor Ulrich Hütter’s advanced blade technology from the Technical University of Stuttgart to Denmark and made it available for the general public. The newly founded Økær Vind Energi brought to the market Tvind’s downscaled 4.5 m fibreglass blade, the basis of the emerging component wind turbine. Soon after, NIVE, divided up a wind turbine’s structure into four basic elements that were manageable items within the existing specialised industries. Specifications were defined for modular wind turbine components (blades, controls) which lead to the emerging supply chain that enabled the Herborg blacksmith, members of the Danish Blacksmith’s Association and other small enterprises to manufacture and assemble reliable and affordable 15 kW to 22 kW wind turbines. This book describes how the combination of J. Juul’s principles (heavy, upwind, 3-bladed, asynchronous generator, stall-regulated) with Ulrich Hütter’s/Tvind’s advanced blade fibreglass design and root assembly resulted in the winning wind turbine concept, called the Danish Concept.

A hybrid of J. Juul’s turbine with U. Hütter’s blades is “the Danish Concept”.

Introduction

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Timeline of the development of modern wind power.

This process took place between 1975 and 1979 when the later successful manufacturers Vestas, Nordtank, Bonus, etc., commercialised the concept. During the Californian wind rush from 1983, small workshops became regular factories with series production. The leading companies scaled up the concept step by step and took it to the world market that they dominated for the

Introduction

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succeeding 15 years. When other countries like Germany, Spain and later China got into commercial wind turbine manufacturing, their designs were J. Juul–Hütter hybrids that had become the industrial standard. Some manufacturers changed to synchronous generator, however, within the same basic concept. The diagram below presents some of the milestones in the period from 1975 till 2012.

The development of modern wind turbine in pictures (Photo 8: Hans Hillewaert).

Introduction

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Writing history, even the history of contemporary wind power, is a continuous process. The essence of this book is to bring forth the fact that it was up to the people to create the modern wind turbine industry with bottom-up growth, even if the early products often might appear to be technically clumsy, compared to the perfectionism characterising modern industrial products. It was the craft, design, production and operation of wind turbines that was to be learned first, and from the bottom, by people who were obsessed with belief in the new technology. The wind singing above their heads belonged to them. Preben Maegaard

Lead author Nordic Folkecenter for Renewable Energy

Denmark Summer 2013

Introduction

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