The modern wind industry grew out of small community-owned wind turbines in Denmark, Scandinavia. The governments of Germany, the US, the UK, Sweden and Canada later sponsored research programs on very large machines but these went nowhere. It was small groups of Danish farmers and rural enthusiasts – boosted by the oil crisis and getting together to buy small turbines as investments allowed by supportive Danish government policies – who kept the industry going.

These small machines were built by local makers of agricultural equipment, who have now evolved into modern giants of wind turbine manufacturing – Vestas, Enercon, Bonus, NEG Micon and Nordex.

The original industry and technology grew together, and today’s main trend is for large machines, installed in large windfarms by large developers and utilities. However, the era of the community windfarm is still alive and well – in the country of Denmark 75% of wind power is still produced by turbines owned by local associations and individuals. More than 100 000 families are shareholders in ‘wind guilds’.

In 2000 Middelgrunden, a 40MW offshore windfarm near Copenhagen was commissioned. Half of it is owned by a local utility, with the other half owned by the largest wind farm coop in the world, Middelgrunden Vindmoellelaug I/S. The average size of community-based projects is much smaller in terms of installed capacity, averaging 2-5MW.

Shared ownership of windfarms also occurs in Germany; for instance, the Aachen-Vetschau windfarm, comprising two N80 machines, and the Badbergen Windpark are recent examples.

In the UK, one of the largest wind power operators has designed a ‘one-stop-shop’ for farmers interested in wind energy, in addition to its main business of large utility-sized windfarms. One of its subsidiaries is focusing on co-operative forms of small windfarms, while another large developer has embraced community involvement in a project in East Anglia. Private initiatives have also been active recently in Wales.

Sweden, Holland, Spain and France have recently come up with a number of community-supported wind power projects, which fit into the description of the Renewable Energy Partnership, a 1999 initiative under the European Commission White Paper for a Community Strategy and Action Plan for Renewable Energy Sources by 2010.
Under this program a study in March 2003 using the backdrop of a wind power project in Ireland obtained the following insights, among others:

• a comprehensive review of the potential for community ownership of windfarms
• the various factors influencing ownership and community participation
• an analysis of international best practice, and selection of successful models of shared ownership in Europe.