1970: Crane factory and oil crisis
Vestas builds a separate factory for the crane production started four years earlier. But the oil crisis is coming and Vestas will soon be known for something entirely different: Alternative energy.
1978: Experimenting with the whisk
The second oil crisis is looming and Vestas begins to look into the potential of wind turbines as an alternative and clean source of energy. The Darrieus wind turbine, which looks like a whisk standing upright, is the first experiment. It does not live up to expectations, and after one and a half years of experimenting, Vestas switches to a three blade model – in principle the same type of turbine we know today.
1979: The first turbine
Vestas delivers the first wind turbines to customers who want to invest in sustainable energy. In the years that follow, it is clear that Vestas did the right thing by beginning the production of wind turbines, because the industry sees a real boom in the early 1980s. Six years later Vestas has about 800 staff. It is during this period that Vestas builds its first large turbine factory, measuring 12,000 m2, on the outskirts of Lem, Denmark.