Sail Windmill From Serbia

In February 1978 - a group of students from Institute 3A - The School of Architecture - in Copenhagen Denmark were invited to visit the native village of one of their fellow students - Milorad Karadiz from Serbia in Yugoslavia. The students designed and built a sail windmill to bring with them as a gift and as a demonstration project for the village inhabitants and as a contribution towards the introduction of Renewable Energy technology. The village of Novi Durevac has no access to electricity and the nearest grid connection is 8 kms away in the larger village of Zitni Potok. For lighting - the Karadiz family have installed 6 units of 12 volt fluorescent lights in their house and barn. Power is supplied from old car batteries - transported every 14 days by ox-cart to Zitni Potok for re-charging. 

The windmill would be erected on a small mound in the garden for charging the lighting system’s discharged or flat batteries. A direct electrical connection to the house would result in too high a power loss. The windmill should be based on recycled materials and have a technological level equivlant to what local village inhabitants and the local blacksmith could be expected to reproduce. It was the intention to demonstrate to the other villagers how one could produce electricity from the wind, as an intelligent alternative to centralized electrical power stations that are not only resource-intensive but also discriminate against distant rural areas resulting in emigration from the countryside to the towns. The windmill should also be able to charge batteries belonging to neighbours - in addition to providing mechanical power for water pumping, sawing wood, etc.