Consigned to Oblivion - Wind Power for the World: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy - page 378

Still, the egg beater had an unconditional appeal to the public.
The Borre windmill was placed as well at one of the low-energy
demonstration houses in Skive for which it was meant to supply
heating. It just did not work here either; in fact it was turned around
by an electric motor to give some illusion of being a wind turbine!
The Borre windmill was erected and tested at the Risø test
station. During testing things went wrong. When the wind was
strong, the windmill speeded up; an attempt was made to stop it
with a lasso to throw ropes up into the rotor when the windmill
started racing, a method which had been practised at runaways of
the thousands of la Cour windmills on Danish farms in the period
1905 till 1950. The local blacksmith was called in; it was his task
to stop the windmill, employing the lasso and ropes that were to
get entangled in the blades. However, the run-away drama did not
always have a happy ending—the windmill disintegrated.
Already before the windmill had been tested and documented,
Borre was so certain of the commercial future of his project, that
he had a designer see to the aesthetic appearance. After thorough
studies, a dark blue colour was chosen for the tower. At the end the
Borre windmill never came into industrial production, although
several customers were interested.
After the accident Niels Borre dedicated himself to propeller-
type windmills. About 1980 sail wings had become a fashion. And
Borre was ready for prompt delivery. He found good customers
in Bente and Erik Johannessen at Gyrup in Thy, who ordered two
windmills from Borre to be on the safe side. If one could not provide
heating for their big house it was only logical that the other would
be able to do so. It was unthinkable that both should break down at
the same time.
But things turned out still worse. Erik Johannessen can tell of
terrible experiences with the Borre windmills. It is well known that
winds may be strong in Thy, and one day things went wrong. The
mechanical parts had grown warm, and suddenly red hot parts of
the machinery fell to the ground and made the wet grass seethe.
Soon after they could look out at the windows and see that one of
the towers was swaying. Then the entire windmill rose from the
ground and fell down with a thud, and everything was smashed to
smithereens. Electric cables had grown so hot that they melted, and
soon nothing was left.
The entire investment was wasted, and there was nothing to be
got from Borre. He had taken of to Canada where he was working