Humans have been harnessing the power of wind for over 4,000 years. Egyptians may have been the first to have used wind power to push sailboats across the Nile River. The oldest known windmills were used by the Persians in 600 A.D. to grind grain into flour. About 500 years later, Europeans began using windmills to pump water and for other industrial purposes.

In the late 1800s, electric lights and machines became available. People without electric service used wind machines to generate power for lights and radios.  In 1888, Charles F. Brush was the first person to use a large wind turbine to make electricity for about 10 homes.

It wasn’t until 1920s that the first commercial power plant built in Denmark used a wind turbine to make electricity. 

The technology became highly advanced during the 1980s and 1990s, which have enabled wind turbines to become increasingly reliable source of clean electricity in more than 70 countries.