History of Danish Wind Power - Wind Power for the World: The Rise of Modern Wind Energy - page 47

factories were shut down or forced to rely on other products.
However, the renewed interest in wind power during the war had
initiated new technical developments [8].
In 1918, the last year of the war, the Danish engineers Povl
Vinding and R. Johs. Jensen began developing a new type of
windmill—in fact an important step against the contemporary
wind turbines. In 1919, the aerodynamic blade profiles on the
“Agricco” windmill, which were inspired by the development of
aeroplane propellers and wings during the war, were patented
internationally [9]. From the very beginning of the project, the

intention was to use the Agricco to produce alternating current
(AC) for the public grid and in 1921 an Agricco with a 40 kW
asynchronous generator produced electricity for the 10 kV grid of
the North Zealand utility NESA. The Agricco went into production,
but most of the windmills produced were used for drainage
purposes driving big water-screws.

Figure 3.12 The Agricco windmill from 1919 used the new aerodynamic

knowledge from aeroplanes—but was introduced at a time,
when the interest in wind power was on a decline (Photo: The
Danish Energy Museum).