Wind power

Wind power
A wind power plant produces energy by transforming the power of wind into turning power upon rotor blades. The energy amount depends on the air density, disc area and wind speed. A generator in a wind converter transforms the turning power into alternating current which can be directly supplied with current.

Next to the water mill the medieval wind mill has been the most important main engine in the pre-industrial europe. The mill has been predominately used for milling industry, saw mill and the transport of water. Until the middle of the last century the importance of the wind mill for the economy has been increasing. The invention of the steam engine was the end of the wind mill.

There must appear three crises in the 1970s and 1980s which led to a change in the energy sector and energy politic: the oil crisis, the atom energy crisis and the environmental crisis.

In June 1999 the 1st grid-connected Styrian wind power plant was brought online in a height of 1.450m. It is the highest wind power plant in Europe and the best practice of efficient energy production out of renewable energy.