Photos of Windane Wind Turbines

Danish Wind Technology (Dansk Vind Teknik) or DWT developed several wind turbines marketed under the trade name Windane in the 1980s. DWT’s nomenclature used the model’s rotor diameter as the distinguishing mark, as well it should be. For example, the Windane 12 was a two-blade, downwind wind turbine with a 12 meter diameter rotor, and the Windane 34 was a 34-meter diameter wind turbine with a three-blade rotor upwind of the tower.

While the Danish wind industry grew out of the private sector, mostly companies in agriculture or small machine shops, DWT followed a different development path. It was formed by Volund, a blade manufacturer, ASEA, a Scandinavian manufacturer of generators, and the Danish state through the Danish Ministry of Energy.

DWT’s small household-size turbines were unusual in that they used only two blades and the rotor was downwind of the tower at a time when the Danish wind industry exclusively used three-blade rotors upwind of the tower.

I have no idea how many of the Windane 12 turbine were installed worldwide. I photographed two of them on the beach of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, India in 1987.

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21 were installed by Arbutus on Pajuela Peak north of Hwy 58 in the Tehachapi Pass in 1986. This version used a 13.5 meter diameter rotor sweeping 144 square meters of the wind stream. They did not fare well in the rugged Tehachapi Pass.

By 1987 there were only 14 remaining.

In 1988 these fourteen 40 kW turbines produced a capacity factor of 10% and a yield of 249 kWh/m². They delivered a similar performance in 1989.

During the mid 1980s DWT installed three Windane 31, a 340 kW downwind wind turbine in the Altamont Pass for the City of Santa Clara, California. I think they also installed one in Hawaii. They were unusual in that they were downwind, and they used struts to strengthen the rotor. They did not perform well and don’t appear in the CEC’s wind project performance reporting system.

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In 1990 DWT installed 35 of the Windane 34, a 400 kW wind turbine in the San Gorgonio Pass. At the time this was the largest commercial wind turbine in the world.

By the end of 1991, Arbutus reported no production from the 14 Windane 12s in the Tehachapi Pass. Meanwhile the Windane 34s in the San Gorgonio Pass were developing a reputation for high performance. They delivered the best performance of any wind turbine in California in 1991: 37% capacity factor and a yield of 1,406 kWh/m². The Windane 34s continued to deliver among the best performance in California until they were eventually replaced a decade or more later.

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Across the Atlantic, Peter Edwards installed the first commercial wind farm in Great Britain using ten Windane 34s in 1991. He operated the Danish wind turbines for two decades then repowered the site in 2011 with four Enercon E70 wind turbines. See Britain’s First Wind Farm–Three Decades of Delabole–What a Cornish Farmer with a Can Do Attitude Did.

The final product in the line was the Windane 40, a 40-meter diameter, 750 kW upwind turbine. Five were installed on a dike in Denmark. They operated for a number of years before the site was repowered.

In 1989 DWT was absorbed by Vestas.

For more on DWT, see Erik Grove-Nielsen’s web site Winds of Change. Go to Turbines Denmark for Danish Turbine makes 1975 – 1985 and search for “Windane.” He has a list of their products and specifications.