<P> The first wind turbine used for the production of electricity was built in Scotland in July 1887 by Prof James Blyth of Anderson 's College , Glasgow ( the precursor of Strathclyde University ) . Blyth 's 10 m high , cloth - sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk in Kincardineshire and was used to charge accumulators developed by the Frenchman Camille Alphonse Faure , to power the lighting in the cottage , thus making it the first house in the world to have its electricity supplied by wind power . Blyth offered the surplus electricity to the people of Marykirk for lighting the main street , however , they turned down the offer as they thought electricity was `` the work of the devil . '' Although he later built a wind turbine to supply emergency power to the local Lunatic Asylum , Infirmary and Dispensary of Montrose , the invention never really caught on as the technology was not considered to be economically viable . </P>
<P> The first wind turbine used for the production of electricity was built in Scotland in July 1887 by Prof James Blyth of Anderson 's College , Glasgow ( the precursor of Strathclyde University ) . Blyth 's 10 m high , cloth - sailed wind turbine was installed in the garden of his holiday cottage at Marykirk in Kincardineshire and was used to charge accumulators developed by the Frenchman Camille Alphonse Faure , to power the lighting in the cottage , thus making it the first house in the world to have its electricity supplied by wind power . Blyth offered the surplus electricity to the people of Marykirk for lighting the main street , however , they turned down the offer as they thought electricity was `` the work of the devil . '' Although he later built a wind turbine to supply emergency power to the local Lunatic Asylum , Infirmary and Dispensary of Montrose , the invention never really caught on as the technology was not considered to be economically viable . </P>
when was wind energy first used to generate electricity
when was wind energy first used to generate electricity
1887
1887