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Wind rights are rights relating to windmills, wind turbines and wind power. Historically in Continental Europe wind rights were manorial rights and obligations relating to the operation and profitability of windmills. In modern times, as wind becomes a more important source of power, rights relating to wind turbines and windmills are sometimes referred to as "wind rights".
Historically, "wind rights" (Dutch: windrecht) referred to a tax paid by millers in large parts of the Low Countries before around 1800. The tax was paid on the "wind catch" (windvang) needed to turn a windmill, but it was often based on the windmill's output. [1] [N 1]
Since a windmill in a heerlijkheid was primarily the property of the lord (although leased out to a miller), wind rights were one way for a lord to discourage competition. In consideration for payment of this tax, the lord ensured that there were no wind obstructions around the mill by imposing a prohibition on buildings and high trees in the area. Another obligation imposed on residents was the "mill obligation" (molendwang), which required them to have their grain ground at the lord's mill. To a certain extent, this was another way for a lord to safeguard the income received from the mill.
Because of these rights and obligations, windmills had to be identifiable. They each had a name, traditionally the name of an animal. An image of the animal was placed on the mill so that even the illiterate would know which mill was which.
In the Netherlands, wind rights and the mill obligations were ended around 1800 when a new constitution was introduced in the Batavian Republic. Similar concepts still exist in modern times. Since around 1973 the wind needed to turn a mill has been referred to as the "windmill biotope" (molenbiotoop). An area of 375 metres (1,230 ft) around a windmill is maintained as a "free zone" so that the windmill can have enough wind. For polder windmills, ensuring that windmills have enough wind is the responsibility of the water board (waterschap or hoogheemraadschap). However, this seldom takes priority over the desire of municipalities to build new housing.
In Minnesota, as a result of the increased interest in wind energy, developers or utilities purchase “wind rights" from landowners to allow the installation of one or more wind generators and an access road to the equipment in exchange for a payment to the landowner. [2]
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades, specifically to mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines and other applications. Windmills were used throughout the high medieval and early modern periods; the horizontal or panemone windmill first appeared in Greater Iran during the 9th century, the vertical windmill in northwestern Europe in the 12th century.
Burton Latimer is a town in Northamptonshire, England, with a population in 2011 of 7,449.
The yaw drive is an important component of the horizontal axis wind turbines' yaw system. To ensure the wind turbine is producing the maximal amount of electric energy at all times, the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the wind direction changes. This only applies for wind turbines with a horizontal axis rotor. The wind turbine is said to have a yaw error if the rotor is not aligned to the wind. A yaw error implies that a lower share of the energy in the wind will be running through the rotor area..
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne", and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world. Milling existed in hunter-gatherer communities, and later millers were important to the development of agriculture.
A tower mill is a type of vertical windmill consisting of a brick or stone tower, on which sits a wooden 'cap' or roof, which can rotate to bring the sails into the wind.
Lieshout is a small village located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, about 15 kilometres northeast of Eindhoven. There are 4,300 inhabitants, and the village is known for its brewing company Swinkels Family Brewers. The spoken language is Peellands.
Wind power has been used as long as humans have put sails into the wind. For more than two millennia wind-powered machines have ground grain and pumped water. Wind power was widely available and not confined to the banks of fast-flowing streams, or later, requiring sources of fuel. Wind-powered pumps drained the polders of the Netherlands, and in arid regions such as the American mid-west or the Australian outback, wind pumps provided water for livestock and steam engines.
Thirlage was a feudal servitude under Scots law restricting manorial tenants in the milling of their grain for personal or other uses. Vassals in a feudal barony were thirled to their local mill owned by the feudal superior. People so thirled were called suckeners and were obliged to pay customary dues for use of the mill and help maintain it.
A heerlijkheid was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. It originated as a unit of lordship under the feudal system during the Middle Ages. The English equivalents are manor, seigniory, and lordship. The heerlijkheid system was the Dutch version of manorialism that prevailed in the Low Countries and was the precursor to the modern municipality system in the Netherlands and Flemish Belgium.
Windmills are powered by their sails. Sails are found in different designs, from primitive common sails to the advanced patent sails.
Community wind projects are locally owned by farmers, investors, businesses, schools, utilities, or other public or private entities who utilize wind energy to support and reduce energy costs to the local community. The key feature is that local community members have a significant, direct financial stake in the project beyond land lease payments and tax revenue. Projects may be used for on-site power or to generate wholesale power for sale, usually on a commercial-scale greater than 100 kW.
A panemone windmill is a type of vertical axis wind turbine. It has a rotating axis positioned vertically, while the wind-catching blades move parallel to the wind. By contrast, the shaft of a horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) points into the wind while its blades move at right-angles to the wind's thrust. That is, a panemone primarily uses drag whereas the blades of a HAWT use lift.
The International Wind- and Watermill Museum, at Gifhorn in the German state of Lower Saxony, is the only one of its kind in Europe. On the museum's open-air site, which covers an area of around 16 hectares, there are currently 16 mills from 12 different countries. The mills are either original or faithful reproductions and are set in landscapes typical of their origins. Right across the site are historic artefacts associated with mills and the milling industry. The museum site is easily accessed by road; nearby is the intersection between the B 4 and B 188 federal highways. The museum is station 65 on the Lower Saxon Mill Road.
The Seppman Mill is a former windmill in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, United States, now preserved in Minneopa State Park. It was built by Louis Seppmann, a German immigrant, between 1862 and 1864 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The sails and internal machinery have been removed.
A gristmill grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to both the grinding mechanism and the building that holds it.
De Noord is a windmill located on the Noordvest 38 in Schiedam, Netherlands. It is the tallest windmill in the world with a roof height of 33.3 metres. Its wing span is 26.6 metres. The mill is one of the five remaining windmills in Schiedam, and is a national monument since 29 May 1969. Today De Noord houses a restaurant.
Mijn Genoegen is a paltrok mill in the Netherlands Open Air Museum in Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands which has been restored to working order. As are all Dutch paltrok mills, it is a wind-powered sawmill.
Tejn Mølle, also known as Melsted Stubmølle, is a post mill on the Danish island of Bornholm. It was recently moved from Tejn on the west coast to Melstedgård near Gudhjem where it is part of Bornholms Landbrugsmuseum.
The Grafelijke Korenmolen van Zeddam is a tower mill in Zeddam, the Netherlands, which has been restored to working order. The mill may have been built before 1441, making it the oldest windmill in existence in the Netherlands. It is listed as Rijksmonument number 9290.
The Buitenmolen is a tower mill in Zevenaar, Netherlands that was restored to working order in 1970. The mill was built in the beginning of the sixteenth century and is listed as a Rijksmonument, number 40427.