Wind machines were used in Persia as early as 200 B.C. The windwheel of Heron of Alexandria marks one of the first known instances of wind powering a machine in history. His windwheel operated an organ (musical instrument)!
Another early example of a wind-driven wheel was the prayer wheel, which was used in ancient Tibet and China since the 4th century (current examples shown are still using the same design principles).
The first practical windmills were built in Sistan, a region between Afghanistan and Iran, from the 7th century and as recorded by the Persian geographer, Estakhri, later in the 9th century. Windmills were certainly in widespread use across the Middle East and Central Asia by the 10th-century and had spread to China and India from there.
These early windmills were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical driveshaft with rectangle-shaped blades. Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind corn and draw up water, and were used in the grist milling and sugarcane industries.
A similar type of vertical-shaft windmill with rectangle blades, used for irrigation, can also be found in 13th-century China (during the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in the north), introduced by the travels of Yelü Chucai to Turkestan in 1219.
All this goes to demonstrate that wind power has been a recognised source of energy for millennia in Central Asia. We believe that with the right innovation and investment micro-wind turbines can be re-introduced to rural communities and could become a cheap and easily maintained source of electricity.
These early windmills were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical driveshaft with rectangle-shaped blades. Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind corn and draw up water, and were used in the grist milling and sugarcane industries.
A similar type of vertical-shaft windmill with rectangle blades, used for irrigation, can also be found in 13th-century China (during the Jurchen Jin Dynasty in the north), introduced by the travels of Yelü Chucai to Turkestan in 1219.
All this goes to demonstrate that wind power has been a recognised source of energy for millennia in Central Asia. We believe that with the right innovation and investment micro-wind turbines can be re-introduced to rural communities and could become a cheap and easily maintained source of electricity.