Humans have used wind energy for thousands of years. At first, they primarily used wind power to extract water for irrigation, sea salt, and windmills. During this era, humans harnessed the power of nature, using wind and water power to replace labor and animal power to operate working machines, thereby improving productivity. Human use of wind energy to power ships dates back to even earlier times.
In the 1970s, China began to develop and use large-scale wind turbines, especially small wind turbines. The wind elevator developed at that time was used for water pumping irrigation and salt fields in coastal areas. Larger-power wind turbines are used in coastal areas of Zhejiang andFujian, particularly in Inner Mongolia. With the support of the government and adaptation to the needs of local natural resources and local people, the research and promotion of small wind turbines have made great progress. .