Helps readers understand and appreciate what the history of wind power can teach us about technology innovation and provides the implications for both wind power today and its future
This book takes readers on a journey through the history of wind power in order to show how the technology evolved over the course of the twentieth century and where it may be headed in the twenty-first century. It introduces and examines broad themes such as government funding of wind power, the role of fossil fuels in wind power development, and the importance of entrepreneurs in wind power development. It also discusses the lessons learned from wind power technology innovation and makes them relevant to the understanding of wind power today and in the future.
Spanning the entire history of wind power (1888-2018), The Wind Power Story: A Century of Innovation that Reshaped the Global Energy Landscape provides balanced coverage of each decade as well as the important wind power technology innovations that occurred during that time. Compelling from the first page to the last, it offers chapters covering the pioneers of wind power; the age of small wind; wind power in the wake of war; wind power’s use across Europe; government-funded research programs; how Denmark reinvented wind power in the 1970s; the California Wind Rush of the 1980s; wind power’s rise in Spain; America’s wind power starting in the 1990s; India’s wind power path; the wind power surge in China; the globalization of wind power; and much more.
In addition, this text:
- Spans the entire global history of wind power, while weaving together both the historical context and the technical details of wind power innovation
- Provides historical context for wind power developments and explains the evolution of wind turbine technology in an easy-to-understand manner
- Discusses the policy, technology, and market evolution of wind power in commonly understood language
- Offers a review of the surrounding power technology, policy, and market environment throughout the history of wind power
A book that both specialists and non-specialists can read in order to understand and appreciate the past, present, and future of wind power technology, The Wind Power Story: A Century of Innovation that Reshaped the Global Energy Landscape will be of great interest to any engineer and any interested readers looking to understand wind power technologies, markets, and policies in one book.
Table of Contents
Preface xi
1 The Wind Power Pioneers 1
1.1 Work of the Devil 1
1.2 The Danish Edison 7
1.3 The War of the Currents 12
1.4 The Colorado Connection 14
2 The Age of Small Wind 19
2.1 Networks of Power 19
2.2 An Interesting Twist 22
2.3 The Savior of the Windmills 25
2.4 From the Arctic to Antarctica 27
2.5 Rural Electrification 32
3 The Birth of Big Wind 37
3.1 The High Altitude Turbogenerator 37
3.2 The Soviets Advance 42
3.3 Victory 46
4 Wind Power's Giant Leap 53
4.1 The Winds of Cape Cod 53
4.2 Grandpa's Knob 58
4.3 A Dream Realized 60
4.4 A Lesson in Economics 63
5 Wind Power in the Wake of War 67
5.1 The Wind Power Aerogenerator 67
5.2 The Search for Tomorrow 72
5.3 The British Experiments 73
5.4 The Wind Power Schism 77
6 Wind Power's Invisible Solution 83
6.1 The Death of Windmills 83
6.2 The Return of Johannes Juul 88
6.3 Learning to Stall 91
6.4 Gedser Economics 95
7 The French Connection 101
7.1 The Duke's Invention 101
7.2 The Seeker 106
7.3 The Neyrpic Wind Turbines 110
8 Germany's Timeless Beauty 115
8.1 Wind Power in Wartime 115
8.2 Lighting Neuwerk Island 117
8.3 The Aesthete 119
8.4 The Blade Breakthrough 122
9 Wind Power's Silent Decade 129
9.1 The Pope's Speech 129
9.2 Silent Spring 134
9.3 The Gathering Storm 138
10 America's Next Moonshot 143
10.1 The Energy Crisis 143
10.2 Back to Ohio 148
10.3 The Turning Point 152
11 Denmark Reinvents Wind Power 159
11.1 Feared to Freeze 159
11.2 More Than a Carpenter 162
11.3 Let 100 Windmills Bloom 166
11.4 From Blacksmiths to Businessmen 168
12 The Wind King 175
12.1 Heronemus's Dream 175
12.2 California's Soft Energy Path 180
12.3 This Is the Place! 185
13 The California Wind Rush 191
13.1 The Deluge 191
13.2 The Danish Invasion 194
13.3 Brand New Day 199
14 Germany's Giant 207
14.1 Ulrich Hutter Returns 207
14.2 Bottoms Up 215
14.3 Our Common Future 218
15 Spain's Wind Power Miracle 223
15.1 A Hot Day in Madrid 223
15.2 Wind Policy Push 228
15.3 Denmark's Design 229
16 Europe Sails Ahead 237
16.1 Wind Power Reincarnated 237
16.2 The Wind Power Wizard 242
16.3 The Wind Virus 246
17 Reigniting American Wind Power 253
17.1 Picking up the Pieces 253
17.2 Iowa Innovates 257
17.3 The Selfish Invention 262
18 India's Wind Power Path 269
18.1 Coping with the Crisis 269
18.2 A Star Is Born 274
18.3 Gamesa Gets It 278
18.4 The Path Forward 279
19 China's Wind Power Surge 285
19.1 The Birth of Goldwind 285
19.2 The Rise of Sinovel 289
19.3 The Year of Adjustment 293
19.4 Sinovel's Stall 297
19.5 Recalibration 300
20 The Globalization of Wind Power 307
20.1 Into the Fire 307
20.2 The Final Frontier 311
20.3 A Stable Sunset 314
20.4 Around the World 317
20.5 The Tipping Point 318
20.6 Back to the Future 321
Index 329
