The landscape around here is flat and barren. Not a lot of trees, mostly pastures and moors. The North Sea is our closest neighbour, so needless to say, we can feel the wind in the hair. “Around here, it’s windy 300 days a year, the rest of the time we have a storm” as a local politician put it. So of course our area is full of windmills.
The 10 NEG Micon mills at Vedersø Kær account for a substantial amount of the windmill presence in our area. They are just short of 100 metres high (almost twice as high as the mill in Tvind). Each has an output of 1.5 MW. The wind farm is located on both sides of Madum Creek, and replaced 27 smaller (225 kW) mills in 2002. DONG Energy and private stakeholders own the Micon mills.
The closest neighbour to the 10 NEG Micon mills is “Tvindkraft” the world famous pioneer windmill which was built by students and teachers at the Tvind schools in Madum in 1974 – 1979. Enthusiastic volunteers to show that it was possible, effectively paving the way for the Danish windmill industry, built the windmill. The Tvind mill has an annual yield of 1MW. At the beginning of the millennium famous architect Jan Utzon designed the new red and white chequered look of the windmill. Tvindkraft is owned by Fælleseje and produces electricity for the schools in Tvind as well as the national grid.
Three 143,5 metre Siemens Wind Power mills are located southwest of Tim. It caused quite a stir when the first one was raised in July of 2008. It was a gear-less test mill which Siemens wanted to protect from the curious gazes of other windmill producers. Therefore, the area was carefully guarded and access denied for the general public during the erection of the mill. In later years the mills have been criticized for the noise they produce.
The newest mills on the block are three Siemens windmills in Tim, easily located from the Holstebro road. The 3,6 MW mills have been producing electricity since 2008. The area is excellent for wind farms, so the owners, Energicenter Nord Aps, have applied to erect a total of 12 windmills, divided in two rows of six mills. However, this plan was reduced to a total of six mills, including the pre-existing mils. These mills are now being changed, in order for the six mills to have a similar sleek look. The project will be finished by the end of 2013.
We are proud of the windmills in our area and are happy to have these friendly giants on the vast flatlands. The windmills are beacons heralding in a new era of sustainable energy, something all Danes can be proud of.
A piece of newly written history: one late evening in October 2013 the winds were so favourable that the windmills of Denmark produced 123% of the actual need for electricity. Just for a few brief hours, granted, but still: a hope and a promise for the future.
Tvind 