Small Wind Machines for the Well-Being of Mankind

At the beginning of 2006 more than 50 electrical GW have been installed worldwide employing wind machines, and it is forecast that this capacity will be doubled within the next three years. Most of this growth in electrical capacity is due to very big machines, some of them can (nominally) deliver 5 MW each, and machines of 10 MW, and bigger, are currently under design. While small wind machines contribute little to the actual and predicted electrical capacity, they surely will be, and will remain for a long time, the main source of electricity to the almost two billion people in developing countries without electricity, who live in rural communities and houses far away from established distribution grids. For this population small wind machines would serve as the mainstay of hybrid systems of electrical supply without needing substations, transformers, and lines of electric conduction, which are inherent to the wind farms driven by big machines. Even though the great development of the wind energy industry is aimed towards bigger and bigger machines, mini and micro wind turbines can be built and installed at such low prices that they must be within reach of everyone, including the poorest people in developing countries. This paper shows how it can be accomplished.