- Vestas was founded in 1898 by H.S. Hansen, a blacksmith, in the small town of Lem in Denmark. He and his son, Peder Hansen, manufactured steel windows for industrial buildings.
- In 1945, Peder Hansen established the company VEstjysk-STålteknik A/S, whose name was shortened to Vestas. The new company, which initially made household appliances, started to produce agricultural equipment.
- During the second oil crisis in the 1970s, Vestas began to examine the potential of the wind turbine as an alternative source of clean energy.
- In 1979, Vestas delivered the first wind turbines. The industry experienced a genuine boom at the start of the 1980s, but in 1986 Vestas was forced to suspend payments because the market in the United States was destroyed due to the expiration of a special tax legislation that provided advantageous conditions for the establishment of wind turbines.
- In 1986, large sections of Vestas were sold off and a new company called Vestas Wind Systems A/S was founded at the end of the year – a company established to concentrate exclusively on wind energy.
- Vestas has since developed from a pioneer in the industry with a staff of around 60 people in 1987 to a global, hi-tech and market-leading company employing more than 20,000 people1.
- In 2004, Vestas merged with another Danish wind turbine manufacturer, NEG Micon A/S.
- On 1 May 2005, Ditlev Engel became President and CEO of the company. Less than a month after taking up his new position, Ditlev Engel published his strategy for Vestas for 2005-2008: The Will to Win. It includes, among other things, a new vision for Vestas. This vision is Wind, Oil and Gas, stating that wind power is to be a source of energy on par with oil and gas.
- To strengthen its market leading position and to stress the fact that wind is an energy source on par with oil and gas, Vestas launched the new strategy No. 1 in Modern Energy in August 2007. At that time, Vestas had installed more than 33,500 wind turbines in 63 countries and on 5 continents.
1) As of 30 September 2009
