In 1977 Wayne Van Dyck, a former venture capitalist, started Windfarms Ltd. to develop large scale wind energy projects for utilities and to demonstrate that wind could make a major contribution to America's clean energy future.

The following year, Ed Scarff and Wayne Prim, invested $1 Million and took seats on the board.

The following year, after the second Arab oil embargo, Chevron invested $16 million and took four seats on the board.

In 1980 Windfarms signed it first major power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric for an 80 megawatt project on the northeast corner of Oahu. Wayne Van Dyck testified before a number of Congressional energy committees as part of the successful passage of H.R. 5892, the Wind Energy R&D and Demonstration Act. (Click HERE for President Carter Letter of Appreciation.)

Click HERE to view the 1981 Windfarms Ltd. Annual Report.

Additional projects totally almost 2,000 megawatts were signed with Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), the Bonneville Power Administration and the Dutch Government. Bechtel Engineering was retained as the project manager. Total project costs were close to $2 billion.

In 1982 President Reagan cancelled the Department of Energy funding for large scale wind development. With the funding for the technology eliminated and orders for over $1 billion worth of large wind turbines, Windfarms organized a $150 million, public offering (Merrill Lynch and First Boston were the underwriters) to fund the development and tooling of the GE 7.5 MW turbines.

Click HERE to see the 21 minute video shown to investors.

When the price of oil peaked at $50/barrel and began to retreat, Merrill Lynch pulled the public offering and the following year Windfarms laid off its staff of 55 people and ceased operations.

Today, Wayne Van Dyck continues to follow the wind industry, but spends his time building Internet businesses.