2025: Our best DIY Wind Turbine projects

In 2025, we built a total of 18 small wind turbines in our DIY courses in Austria and Germany – more than ever before in a single year. We spent much of the year on the road, often traveling directly from one project to the next. Among them were some of my favorite projects to date with PureSelfMade, and I’m proud of everything we experienced this year.

On the side, I developed a brand-new mini-wind turbine concept for workshops at schools, which proved to be very successful. There were also plenty of new developments, such as new 3D-printed templates and tools that significantly improved and simplified the wind turbine building process. Our projects were taken to a new level and we often had to take on challenges in order to grow to become more professional in many ways.

I was also able to continue working on my DIY wind turbine book (which is still a work in progress) from time to time, incorporating current inspirations and insights. Especially during the winter of 2025–2026, I made significant progress toward completing the book project.

I would like to thank everyone who participated in a course this year or supported us in other ways. Without you, this wouldn’t be possible!

Wind turbine DIY course & installation in Grebenau, Germany

The first workshop of 2025 took place in an old nursery in Grebenau, Hesse. With a small group, we built a 2.2F wind turbine and a tower mast for which we used old pipes from the former greenhouse heating system. We had a lot of fun building the wind turbine together in the old greenhouse, which had been converted into a workshop.

At the end of the workshop, the wind turbine was installed in the large garden . It is connected to the house’s electrical system via a wind turbine inverter. A PV system with an associated battery storage unit will, in the next step, make the house completely self-sufficient.

Micro-Wind Turbine school courses in Upper Austria

In courses held at 3 schools in the Perg district of Upper Austria, we built our new micro wind turbine concept, which was developed specifically for educational workshops. The micro wind turbine has a diameter of 1 meter and is widely based on the design of our larger models. It also features a homemade disc-rotor generator and hand made wooden blades. The well-thought-through combination of wood, metal, and 3D-printed parts allows the wind turbine, including the generator, to be built in one or two day workshops, offering a unique learning experience with depth and many opportunities for a sense of accomplishment through hands-on work. The groups consisted of children and teenagers aged 10–18 who clearly enjoyed the projects and participated with great enthusiasm.
The concept has since then been further developed and used by us on several occasions.

The mini wind turbines were used to charge cell phones and power banks via a simple 5V USB voltage regulator.

Wind turbine DIY course wicht apprentices from KPO School Passau, Germany

In this course, we built our 2.2F wind turbine with a group of apprentices from various trades at the Karl-Peter-Obermaier School in Passau. The workshop took place in the Waldviertel region of Austria, where we got to work in the well-equipped workshop space at the BFI Center.

Since this was a special field trip to Austria for the group to celebrate the end of their term , there was also an extensive leisure and evening program outside of the wind turbine workshop.

The wind turbine was completed in four days; as usual, all individual parts were manufactured on-site by the group themselves. We then temporarily tested the finished wind turbine on-site on the hill, where we were fortunate to have some wind. The group took the wind turbine back to Passau, where it will later be permanently installed.

Wind turbine DIY course & installation in Bargenstedt, Germany

This is one of my favorite projects so far and really deserves its own article.
We organized a DIY wind turbine course at Bernd’s farm – a friend and fellow small-scale wind power enthusiast who had already participated in a PureSelfMade course three times before.
Bernd had prepared everything for the course for us with great effort to offer the 16 participants a special experience.

With this large group, we built a 2.2F wind turbine, which we erected on site on a relatively tall tower (18 m). The wind turbine is connected to the house’s PV and storage system via a small wind turbine inverter.

In this workshop, we also restored another homemade small wind turbine with a 4-meter diameter, which Bernd had purchased secondhand many years ago. This wind turbine differs entirely in its design from our direct-drive systems, featuring an old DC generator and a belt drive. It also has a complex mechanical centrifugal control system to limit the rotational speed. A comparatively very complex and fragile design, which in practice caused problems – especially during startup – due to friction losses in the belt and the less-than-ideal generator. Nevertheless, this was an ideal project for learning about a wide variety of aspects in the field of small-scale wind power.

Wind turbine DIY course & installation in Langenhanshagen, Germany

Another workshop on building the 2.2F wind turbine on our summer tour. This time, it took place in a workshop at Andreas Härting’s company, Naturholzelemente. We had plenty of space at the location for a successful project with a motivated group.

In the end, the wind turbine was set up next to Andreas’s tiny house, for which it will generate electricity in the future. It was connected via a small inverter. We used old scaffolding pipes available on site as the mast.

In the evening, we took the group to the Baltic Sea beach in Zingst for a welcome cool-down after a hot summer day of work.

Wind turbine DIY course & installation at SoLaWi Ernteglück Erzgebirge, Germany

In the third workshop of the summer tour, our small group built a 2.2F wind turbine for a farm that operates on a remote property based on the community-supported agriculture (CSA) model. In addition to the wind turbine, we set up a new self-sufficient energy system consisting of solar panels, a battery storage unit, an inverter, and more. We used the existing batteries as well as some of the farm’s existing components.

Our workshop took place entirely outdoors under a simple shelter, which was quite exciting given the somewhat unpredictable weather in the mountainous region.

Micro Wind Turbine Erasmus+ school project at HTL St. Pölten, Austria

In this special school course at HTL St. Pölten, that was part of an Erasmus+ project, we built four micro wind turbines over three days based on our newly developed concept, working with 50 students from five European schools in Austria (St. Pölten), Luxembourg, Croatia, and Germany. This relatively large-scale project required a significant amount of planning, which proved well worth the effort: the workshop was very well received by the school groups. Each school took one of the mini wind turbines back to their home country, where it will continue to be used in the classroom for various experiments. The success of this workshop project gives me great motivation to further refine and expand such workshops with PureSelfMade in the education sector.

Wind turbine DIY course & installation in Westhausen, Germany

The first workshop of our autumn tour in Germany took us to Westhausen in the Swabian region. There, together with 12 enthusiastic locals, we built a 2.2 F wind turbine, which now generates electricity for the local forest kindergarten. The course was held at the local school, thanks to the holidays we were able to use the school’s workshop facility without restriction for our course.

On the last day, the wind turbine was mounted on the tower next to the forest kindergarten. The wind turbine was connected to the existing, self-sufficient off-grid electrical system that powers the kindergarten. At the same time, the very small PV and storage system was also given a minor overhaul. In the long term, the system is to be expanded further.

The mast was sponsored for the project by a local metal fabrication company. The course was organized in collaboration with the Westhausen Tool Sharing association  and supported by funds from the LEADER regional development program.

Wind turbine DIY course & installation in Frielendorf, Germany

The second course of the autumn tour took place in Hesse, near Frielendorf, at the Kunst- und Werkhof. The conditions there were ideal for such a project. We built a 2.2F wind turbine and a matching tower and ultimately installed the wind turbine on-site in a large meadow behind the farm. The electrical connection was also made via a small wind turbine inverter here. In the future, a PV system and a battery storage unit are also planned for the farm to become as self-sufficient as possible.

Wind turbine DIY courses at the GEA Akademie, Austria

This year, four wind turbine-building workshops were once again held at the GEA Academy. The fantastic location is perfect for this and always attracts wonderful people. We had some of my favorite groups there this year where we shared many ideas that went far beyond just building wind turbines.

Alle Fotos © Jonathan Schreiber, pureselfmade.com