Production record |
The Nogent-le-Roi wind turbine was an experimental wind turbine designed to test concepts in real life, and mass production of electricity was not its primary objective.
It operated from 15 March 1958 to 12 April 1962. It produced 220,540 kW over this period. This prototype operated regularly with winds above 17 m/s. On 30 August 1960, it went from 300 kW to 900 kW in a few seconds.
However, it exceeded its nominal power (650 kWh) by almost twice, reaching a peak of 1,025 kW on a very windy day (27 October 1959 at around 11.15 a.m.). The total production over twelve hours was 10 megawatts on that day. This feat caused severe damage to the machine, seriously damaging the generator and the clutch. They had to be dismantled and the machine was shut down for three months.
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| The record of 27/10/1959 |
The 3,000-volt current produced by the generator was raised to 15,000 volts before being sent to a temporary high voltage line along with the D 148. This line then split into two branches at Chemin de Chandres:
- One was an EDF line that supplied the SNCF electrical substation at Maintenon. Usually, the wind turbine's output was evacuated via this line to the railway network.
- A second branch ran down to Nogent-le-Roi along the castle wall.
A manually operated overhead inverter was used to send the electricity production to the town. This operation only took place once, but the people of Nogent never knew that one day their town had been powered, in part, by wind energy.
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