History of Danish Wind Power - Wind Power for the World: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy - page 75

In 1979, a new Vestas 55 kW was already under development
at HVK using the same basic construction as the 30 kW. Økær
developed 7.5 m blades for the new turbine, named V-15, and in
March 1980 a prototype was erected at the factory in Lem. At the
same time wind turbines got their own department at the Vestas
factory, managed by Birger T. Madsen, who together with Finn
M. Hansen (son of the owner Peter Hansen) had started the first
experiments two years earlier. In the summer of 1981, a new
version of the 55 kW V-15 was introduced. It was considered during
the following years to be the “standard product” from the factory.

Figure 3.34 The first 55 kW Vestas V-15 from 1980 had the same compact

design as the V-10 (illustration: Vestas). In 1981, the second
version shown below was introduced with the disc brake in
front of the gearbox, two bearings for the main axle—and
more space around the components in the long nacelle (Photo:
Benny Christensen, DVS).