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Origin and history

Wind turbine Bollée de Forty is a wind turbine designed by engineer Auguste Bollée and installed in 1898 in the municipality of Forty (Herault). Made of cast iron and steel, it is distinguished by its innovative system combining a fixed stator and a mobile rotor, patented in 1868. This device, foreshadowing modern turbojets, optimizes energy recovery by channeling the wind to the rotor's curved blades. The structure peaks at 23 meters, with an openwork gable topped by a girouette, and rests on a central cast iron column anchored by eight steel bays.

The machine was dedicated to the water supply of the castle of Rouey and the surrounding crops (vignes, olive trees) via a pump powered by wind energy, sheltered in an adjacent building with varnished roof. A spiral staircase of six turns, without counter-steps, allows access to a technical platform located under the wheels. This platform, encircled by a railing indicating the cardinal points, was used to maintain the wheels and steel blades, which were regularly damaged by the weather.

Classified as an additional inventory of Historic Monuments since 1987, this wind turbine illustrates the industrial engineering of the 19th century Technological Revolution and its adaptation to Languedoc's agricultural needs. Its architecture combines functionality and aesthetics, with worked elements such as the six-step masonry base or buried concrete blocks anchoring the haubans. Although property shared between the municipality and a private actor, it remains a rare testimony of pre-electric energy innovations in France.

The Bollée system, more complex than a conventional wind turbine, is based on a double row of five metres in diameter. The stator, orientable against the wind, accelerates the air flow to power the rotor from an optimal angle, thus increasing energy efficiency. This principle, revolutionary for the time, will be taken over a century later in aeronautics. The ensemble, still visible today, attests to the durability of the materials (bottom, steel) and the mechanical precision characteristic of Bollée's achievements.

Wind turbines are part of a regional context marked by viticulture and olive cultivation, which are demanding water resources. Its location at Forty, in western Herault, was responding to an increasing need for irrigation and domestic supply, while the electricity grids were beginning. The choice of renewable and local energy reflects a pragmatic approach, typical of rural areas where traditional windmills gave way to more efficient technologies.

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