WPNL 202202

Interview
A museum full of mementos
He was also surprised by the amount of materials they still kept at
home. In the end, the will to share proved great. The mementos
Bakker took home varied from thousands of photos and slides of
all types of turbines and of how a farm or turbine was constructed,
to advertising brochures and leaflets showing prototypes that did
not make it. They didn’t have many real gadgets back then,
although he does have a number of unique Polenko and NedWind
pens and folders and a large Newinco flag, he says.
But he does not only owe his collection to former employees. A
while after Vestas acquired NEG Micon, the company wanted to
get rid of NedWind. This put an end to the existence of the
production of NedWind wind turbines. Another company then
took over the maintenance of the operating wind turbines for a
long time. With the removal of the wind turbines later on, that
company also ceased to exist. Bakker managed to take over a lot of
material from that company.
So, what does he ultimately want to do with all this material?
Bakker: ‘Ideally I would love to start a museum. But will there be
anyone visiting? My ultimate goal now is to publish a book with
information, images and stories - to let everyone know: Hey, this
was Polenko/NedWind and we were pretty big!’ Finally, with so
much material, do you still miss anything to add to your collection?
He didn’t have to think long about the answer: ‘I’m looking for
everything!’•
Polenko/NedWind history
To really understand the history of NedWind you have to
go further back in time. It all started in 1976 with the
wind turbine manufacturer Polenko from Rhenen, which
supplied wind turbines with steel blades in the 30 kW
range. There is only one (non-working) example of this in
the Netherlands, high up in the north of Friesland, dating
from 1981. In the end, it never really worked properly.
Bakker recently spoke to someone who made the lattice
mast for it. There are, however, still a few of this type left
in the United States.
Polenko was eventually taken over by TCR, then
Newinco, Hollandia BV, before becoming NedWind.
Under Newinco, they made one of the most popular
wind turbines, says Bakker. They were found in
Herbaijum, between Harlingen and Franeker, and near
Enkhuizen.
During its existence NedWind has brought various wind
turbine models onto the market: including the NedWind
25, 30, 40, 50 and the Pantheon (NedWind 60). Only
one of the latter was built, this one stood on the south
bank near Rotterdam. Almost all wind turbines had two
blades. The NedWind 25s were mainly located around
Amsterdam. The company had four 500 kW red and
white versions of the NedWind 40 installed in Lelypark
Wind Farm in the IJsselmeer near Medemblik. At a
certain moment one blade broke off from one of the
turbines. It was then decided to dismantle all four
turbines. The turbines had been in operation for about
25 years. Bakker: ‘In Noord-Holland there were also a
number of NedWind 35s with something unusual about
them,’ explains Bakker. ‘One half had polyester blades
with a round connection and the other half had a square
connection. This turned out to be a gentleman’s
agreement.’
The NedWind 40 stood throughout the Netherlands.
They are now only found in Greece, India and China, says
Bakker. The most popular of the series were in Palm
Springs, in the United States. However, these were
removed two years ago. Bakker: ‘With this turbine
model, the nacelle, hub and blades were lifted together
and in one go. In 1998, the company fell into the hands
of the Danish company NEG Micon and a piece of pure
Dutch glory came to an end. •
Blue Green
Feather
Publisher & co-organiser of:
ONLINE/OFFLINE NEWS
EVENTS
Do you know anyone who still has items from the
Polenko/NedWind time or has stories to tell about those
days and would like to share them? Or are you
interested in the book? Then send an email to
enrico74bakker@gmail.com. He also collects scale
models of any other wind turbine type. •
A small selection of Enrico Bakker’s collection © E. Bakker
42 | 02-2022
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