Overview of German Wind Industry Roots - Wind Power for the World: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy - page 410

On the other hand, there was a rising number of people who
did not believe in the government's “megalomania” and heavily
criticised these plans throughout the whole 1980s. For the critics,
a popular argument was the lack of technological know-how to
build and operate such giant wind turbines. Another argument was
neighbouring countries like Denmark or the Netherlands, where
small wind turbines were successfully produced in large numbers
and up-scaled step by step. Many Germans believed this was the
right way to succeed in wind technology. But for many years they
were left disappointed: Contrary to the federal wind projects, that
received enormous sums of money, all private initiatives were
poorly funded, if they received external funding at all. However,
few German companies like Brümmer or Windkraftzentrale (WKZ)
managed to sell a considerable number of wind turbines in the
first half of the decade. At the same time, a handful of Danish and
Dutch machines were installed making the “wind idea” spread
successfully. Like the few German machines, they created and
accelerated private interest and engagement.
Around the mid-1980s the young German wind industry
slowly moved towards larger serial production. The 20 kW
Aeroman turbine, developed and produced by MAN, successfully
found its way to many foreign countries around the world. In
1985 Tacke Getriebe entered the wind industry by producing a
150 kW machine designed by Wagner. The same year Enercon
installed its first 55 kW machine with dozens to follow the years
after.
While the federal large-scale projects like GROWIAN or
Monopteros failed one after the other the government realised
the need for funding and research of small wind turbines. Hence,
a development program was set up in 1989 by the Ministry of
Research and Technology. This program lasted until the mid-1990s.
It created an incentive for more companies to enter the wind
industry as well as the installation of single wind turbines and
wind farms as pilot projects.
In the late 1980s a considerable number of German manu-
facturers made up the industry. Some of them designed wind
turbines up to 300 kW, which was a big step for German companies.
Parallel to that, more and more foreign companies like Bonus or
Vestas, decided to settle in Germany not only because of its vast