<P> Wind power was probably used in Persia (present - day Iran) about 500--900 AD . The windwheel of Hero of Alexandria marks one of the first recorded instances of wind powering a machine in history . However, the first known practical wind power plants were built in Sistan, an Eastern province of Iran, from the 7th century . These "Panemone" were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical drive shafts with rectangular blades . Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grain or draw up water, and were used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries . </P> <P> Wind power first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages . The first historical records of their use in England date to the 11th or 12th centuries and there are reports of German crusaders taking their windmill - making skills to Syria around 1190 . By the 14th century, Dutch windmills were in use to drain areas of the Rhine delta . Advanced wind turbines were described by Croatian inventor Fausto Veranzio . In his book Machinae Novae (1595) he described vertical axis wind turbines with curved or V - shaped blades . </P> <P> The first electricity - generating wind turbine was a battery charging machine installed in July 1887 by Scottish academic James Blyth to light his holiday home in Marykirk, Scotland . Some months later American inventor Charles F. Brush was able to build the first automatically operated wind turbine after consulting local University professors and colleagues Jacob S. Gibbs and Brinsley Coleberd and successfully getting the blueprints peer - reviewed for electricity production in Cleveland, Ohio . Although Blyth's turbine was considered uneconomical in the United Kingdom electricity generation by wind turbines was more cost effective in countries with widely scattered populations . </P> <P> In Denmark by 1900, there were about 2500 windmills for mechanical loads such as pumps and mills, producing an estimated combined peak power of about 30 MW . The largest machines were on 24 - meter (79 ft) towers with four - bladed 23 - meter (75 ft) diameter rotors . By 1908 there were 72 wind - driven electric generators operating in the United States from 5 kW to 25 kW . Around the time of World War I, American windmill makers were producing 100,000 farm windmills each year, mostly for water - pumping . </P>

What i see when i see a wind turbine