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All Poland Kłobuck County Rębielice Królewskie Wind Turbine

Rębielice Królewskie Wind Turbine

The oldest wind turbine in Europe, constructed by a group of friends in 1932.

Kłobuck County, Poland

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CoolCrab , Alpha
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Rębielice Królewskie Wind Turbine   Maniex87 / CC BY-SA 4.0
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About

Józef Antos has been into wind energy since he read about it in a magazine in 1978. Having experience with construction, he made and tested many small-scale wind turbines over the years, eventually settling on a design that is radically different from common types of windmills.

The turbine was mostly built on site by Antos and two friends, and assembled by the same team in 2003. The turbine has a rotor of 300 blades and is 33 meters in diameter.  It sits on a rotating control room and steel tower that is 54 meters tall. Antos claimed that it could generate up to two megawatts of electricity, which is comparable with modern wind turbines, and would have been better than turbines at the time. However, the turbine never generated electricity because he was never able to obtain a suitable generator to attach to it. 

Nevertheless, several investors were interested and discussed buying his design, even though a deal was never made. However, it does bear a certain resemblance to the Australian 2010 Eco Whisper turbine, which might have been inspired by Antos's design.

Antos passed away in 2009, and with that his project as no one took the helm to continue the work since then. The turbine still stands and is slowly rusting away, and falling apart. It is unlikely that it will ever work again, but locals are proud of the structure and maintain the site. 

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Windmills Wind Electrical Oddities

Know Before You Go

The turbine can best be visited by a back road (check Google Maps satellite view). However, it is on private land and surrounded by farmland, so we suggest that you go up through the front, and ask the people living there if they could let you through. Paying them a few zpl will be appreciated. 

Community Contributors

Added By

CoolCrab, Alpha

Edited By

ThatGuyOverThere, nbj914, favel

  • ThatGuyOverThere
  • nbj914
  • favel

Published

September 13, 2010

Updated

April 10, 2024

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Sources
  • https://podroze.onet.pl/polska/slaskie/rebielice-krolewskie-ogromny-wiatrak-w-szczerym-polu-to-niespelnione-marzenie/gc0030j
  • https://slaskie.travel/culturalheritage/1019499/wiatrak-w-rbielicach-krlewskich
  • https://windmillenthusiast.wordpress.com/2016/11/16/windmill-wonders-1-rebielice-krolewskie-poland/
  • http://czestochowa.gazeta.pl/czestochowa/1,35271,2200703.html
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C4%99bielice_Kr%C3%B3lewskie
Rębielice Królewskie Wind Turbine
Kłobuck County
Poland
50.997849, 18.8714

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