The blades of the De Arend mill in Wouw no longer only rotate for grinding grain. Thanks to a smart adjustment, the historic mill from 1811 now also generates electricity itself. “It’s great to see,” says miller Marijn Kaufmann proudly. “Every time the mill turns, it generates electricity. We are now completely energy neutral.”
“We installed a 15 kilowatt permanent magnet generator in the mill,” Kaufmann explains. It is powered by the old drive that used to have an electric motor. “We used to use that motor to turn the mill when there was no wind. Now we do it exactly the other way around: the wind makes the mill turn, and the mill generates electricity. It is generating electricity nicely. The harder the wind blows, the more energy we get.”
With the installation of the generator, De Arend has become completely energy neutral. All lighting, the heating of the outbuilding and even the climate control of the mill shop now run on their own electricity. “That is an advantage, especially in winter,” says Kaufmann. “Then the mill will yield more than solar panels ever would.”
“We’ve been working on it for seven years.”
The miller expects the mill to generate approximately 5,000 kilowatt hours annually – comparable to the annual consumption of a large family. “That’s enough to keep everything running here. We don’t feed back into the grid, because we have to pay for that.”
The project was not a matter of simply connecting a generator. Kaufmann: “We have been working on it for seven years. Finding money and sponsors was a challenge in particular. And technically there was more involved than we thought. But the test installation has been running well since March.”
The mill continues to serve its traditional function: grinding grain. “But if we don’t grind, it often turns anyway. And now that energy is no longer lost. That feels fantastic.”
The fact that a mill generates its own electricity is unique. “There are only a few mills in the Netherlands that do this,” says Kaufmann. “And we are the first in Brabant to approach it this way. That makes it extra special.”
For Kaufmann, the project is also personal. “My first word was spin,” he laughs. “I used to sit in front of the washing machine as a child. Mills have always fascinated me. The fact that I now see my own mill turning and generating electricity is simply beautiful.”
