Wind Turbine Workshops

Upcoming wind turbine courses

These courses are currently open for you to sign up.
Click the links for more details.

01. – 04. Aug. 2024 Kleinwindrad & Autarkie Selbstbau Workshop
Duvendiek, near Stralsund, Germany

09. – 12. Aug. 2024 Kleinwindrad & Autarkie Selbstbau Workshop
Prignitz (Brandenburg), Germany

19. – 22. Sept. 2024 Kleinwindrad & Autarkie Selbstbau Workshop
GEA Akademie Schrems, Austria

21. – 24. Sept. 2024 Kleinwindrad & Autarkie Selbstbau Workshop
GEA Akademie Schrems, Austria

New course dates will be announced soon.

Stay informed about new courses

We send out new course dates once in a while to keep you posted.

Interested in hosting a course?
Get in touch

We are currently in contact with partners from the UK to organize english courses there again. It became a bit harder since Brexit but we are on it.

About our practical courses

In our courses we build small wind turbines from scratch.
The wind turbines are fully functional for energy production and are based on the Piggott turbine design.

During the workshop course we usually build all the components of the wind turbine ourselves using simple materials and tools. This often includes making our own wind turbine rotor blades, building a custom made generator, setting up the electrics and much more. A great variety of handcrafting techniques is used during the build

You will learn everything you need to build your own small wind turbine and use it effectively for independent energy production. The courses cover both off-grid and grid-connected use cases for a home-built small wind turbine.

The courses are based on a hands-on approach, focusing on simple, effective and reliable solutions with great impact. We look at the small details that make a difference in the process of building a wind turbine.

Often the wind turbine built in the course will be permanently installed on site during the session in collaboration with a local partner.

Everything we do in the courses is backed with real experience and comes from the heart. There is a lot of field knowledge to share after already more than 50 courses in recent years.

We offer public courses open for everyone who is interested in learning about Do-It-Yourself wind energy. Additionally we have developed specific course formats for educational institutions, schools and other organizations as well as for the purpose of Teambuilding.

The typical group size varies is between 8 and 20 people. Languages: German or English

The Intention behind our courses

by Jonathan Schreiber, course leader

The main objective of our wind turbine courses is to provide practical knowledge and share hands-on skills in the field of home-built & DIY solutions for independent energy.

The workshop is intended to be a space where people meet, where great experiences and memories are made and where we learn from each other and become more independent through the acquisition of new skills.

Building your own wind turbine to generate electricity is also an act of freedom and liberation. Nothing compares to the moment when your handmade wind turbine starts turning for the first time and it kicks out its first amps of electricity.

Our courses aim to support and encourage a DIY culture of self-sufficiency and independence – values that have always been important to me.

Inspired by northern Scotland

Jonathan, workshop teacher and founder of PureSelfMade

The wind turbine workshops I teach carry a lot of passion and are fueled by personal field experience with small wind turbines and off-grid energy. My projects are closely associated with Hugh Piggott in the north of Scotland who is a good friend of mine. Hugh developed the original design for the wind turbines we work with.

Spending a lot of time working with Hugh on locally built DIY wind turbines in Scoraig, Scotland has been very inspiring to me and I have incorporated some of Hugh’s teaching style into our own projects. I enjoy building experimental things in the workshop and with ambitious people.

The Piggott Wind Turbine Design – Born in Scotland

In the workshop we use the wind turbine design of our good friend Hugh Piggott. It’s a reliable, simple and solid wind turbine concept that has been developed by Hugh in the north of Scotland for homebuilt built wind turbines. The beauty of the design is the that it can be built using basic tools even with little handcrafting experience.

The design is constantly further developed and improved by Jonathan and PureSelfMade in close contact with Hugh Piggott, recently specifically for the publication of the new Wind Turbine DIY Book.

The turbines can compete with commercial small wind turbines in terms of performance and reliability, which has been shown by many installations in the stormy Scottish northwest coast and worldwide.

The small wind turbines come in various sizes and power ratings.

Learn more about the turbines

Typical course content

Find out what we do when building a Piggott Wind Turbine

Carving the Rotor

In the workshop we are making 3 rotor blades with a twisted aerodynamic profile from solid pieces of timber, connect & and balance them.
The aerodynamic principles and physics of the rotor will be discussed during the process.

Working techniques: measuring & marking, cutting & shaping of wood with handsaw, chisel, draw-knife & planer. Drilling, screwing & painting the finished set of blades.

Building the Generator & Electrics

In the workshop, we are manufacturing all the components for the disc-alternator (magnet rotor discs, stator, main bearing) from scratch and assemble those parts with the steel frame construction.

The function of the generator and the underlying principles of electric machine design will be explained.

Working techniques: coil winding, soldering, placing and glueing magnets, manufacturing of cast parts from epoxy resin (preparing and greasing casting moulds, cutting fibreglass sheets), grinding & drilling steel, preparation and assembly of the wind turbine’s main hub.

Steel frame, load control system & tail

We will manufacture the frame (turbine body), including the tower top yaw bearing from simple steel parts, as well as the tail, which is an important part of the automatic mechanic load control system that protects the turbine in strong winds.

The function of the overload control system and underlying physics will be demonstrated and discussed.

Working techniques: measuring & and marking, cutting, grinding, drilling, positioning & welding of steel parts. For the tail vane: Designing and cutting the tail vane sheet from birch plywood. Painting wood and steel parts.

Testing the Turbine

At the end of the workshop we will normally test the wind turbine. Depending on the resources, this can be done on a temporary mast or at the final installation site.

Tasks during test or installation:

Final assembly of all the turbine components including exact adjustment of stator and air gap in the generator, greasing moving parts & securing bolts. Connecting the wind turbine to the rest of the electric system.

Sometimes there are additional things happening at the workshop, such as building or preparing the turbine tower, building electronic components or other parts of the turbine’s electric system. This depends on the exact circumstances of the individual workshop.

Wind Turbine
Hands-On Courses

Learn how to build a small wind turbine for independent energy supply.
Hand made & from simple materials using the Piggott Design.

Get a wide range of practical workshop skills and background knowledge on homebuilt & DIY small wind turbines.

Upcoming wind turbine courses