For thousands of years, apart from the muscle power of humans and animals, wind has been the most important source of natural mechanical energy. But after the steam engine appeared, it was widely used because it was not affected by the weather, but the value of the inexhaustible wind power was forgotten by people.
In the past, because the price of ordinary energy remained at a low level, the use of wind power equipment was not economically feasible. Now, the situation has changed. The cost of thermal and atomic power stations is becoming increasingly expensive, and the environmental pollution they cause has become a new problem, so people have thought of using wind power to generate electricity. The former Federal Ministry of Development and Science and Technology allocated 100 million marks to build a large-scale experimental power generation windmill called Grovian.
Three electrical companies in the former Federal Republic of Germany established a construction company under the leadership of the Nuclear Research Center in Jülich in 1977. They began to conduct a large amount of measurement work and finally determined that it would be located in the famous Wind Valley in Germany. ——Blumbottel, Schleswig-Holstein, builds the world's largest power-generating windmill. The entire windmill is 150 meters high (the "Mode 2" wind power station in the United States is only 105 meters high). Each blade of the windmill is 40 meters long, weighs 18 tons, and is made of fiberglass. It took more than two years to make just two paddles. The windmill tower is entirely made of steel pipe structure with a diameter of 3.5 meters and is fixed by three steel ropes arranged in a star shape. Elevators, escalators and cables are installed inside, with a total weight of 310 tons. The machine room on the top of the tower can rotate at a speed of 0.5 meters per second, so that the windward side of the windmill can be adjusted according to the wind direction. When the wind speed reaches 6.3 meters/second, the windmill starts to operate; when the wind speed reaches 12 meters/second, it can generate 3,000 kilowatts of electricity, which is the designed power generation capacity; when the wind speed reaches 24 meters/second, the generator stops to ensure safety operation (although it can actually withstand hurricane force winds of 60 m/s). In order to ensure constant power generation as much as possible, the generator can balance 15% wind speed changes. This power station can provide electricity (including heating) for 250 exclusive residences - its power generation is equivalent to the energy of 350 liters of fuel oil.
At present, although wind power stations have not been popularized due to the expensive equipment, they have been actually used to supply power to Antarctic scientific research stations because they do not pollute the environment.