Darrieus wind turbine
![Fig. 1: A Darrieus wind turbine once used to generate electricity on the Magdalen Islands](/Images/godic/202501/07/Darrieus-windmill2515.jpg")
![Fig. 2: A very large Darrieus wind turbine on the Gaspé peninsula, Quebec, Canada](/Images/godic/202501/07/Eoliennes_Gaspesie2515.jpg")
![Combined Darrieus-Savonius generator in Taiwan](/Images/godic/202501/07/Taiwan_2009_JinGuaShi_Historic_Gold_Mine_Combined_Darrieus_Savonius_Wind_Turbines_FRD_86382516.jpg")
![How the Darrieus wind turbine works](/Images/godic/202501/07/Darrieus2516.jpg")
The Darrieus wind turbine is a type of vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) used to generate electricity from the energy carried in the wind. The turbine consists of a number of curved aerofoil blades mounted on a vertical rotating shaft or framework. The curvature of the blades allows the blade to be stressed only in tension at high rotating speeds. There are several closely related wind turbines that use straight blades. This design of wind turbine was patented by Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, a French aeronautical engineer in 1931. There are major difficulties in protecting the Darrieus turbine from extreme wind conditions and in making it self-starting.