Pantelleria is only 83 square kilometres, yet it is the largest volcanic satellite island of Sicily. About 7,150 people live here among black lava rocks, domed stone houses called dammusi, terraces of Zibibbo vines and a turquoise crater lake, the Specchio di Venere. On a clear day you can see the coast of Tunisia. The island is reached by air or by ferry from Sicily, and now also by a TESUP parcel.

Bint al-Riyāḥ, the Daughter of the Winds

The Arabs, who ruled the island from the year 700, called it Bint al-Riyāḥ, Daughter of the Winds, after the strong gales that sweep up from the North African coast. The name fits. Everything people built here was built against the wind. The dammusi have thick dry-stone walls of black lava and low domed roofs that catch rainwater. In the giardino pantesco, a round stone wall shelters a single citrus tree from wind and salt. And the island's Zibibbo vines are grown as low bushes in hollows dug into the soil, out of the wind's reach. In 2014 UNESCO added this vite ad alberello technique to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the first agricultural practice ever to receive that honour.

Born of fire

Pantelleria is the tip of a volcano rising from the sea floor. Two huge eruptions, about 114,000 and 45,000 years ago, left the calderas that shape the island today; ash from the second one has been found as far away as the Greek island of Lesbos. Montagna Grande, at 836 metres, is the summit. The last eruption, in 1891, happened under water off the north-west coast, but the volcano is far from asleep: hot springs bubble along the shore, steam rises from fumaroles, a natural sauna fills a small cave, and the Specchio di Venere lake is fed by rain and hot springs. Since 2016 a national park protects 80% of the island.

An Atlas blade set for the Daughter of the Winds

The parcel on its way across the strait with Poste Italiane contains an Atlas Low-Wind blade set. Every Atlas can be fitted with one of three swappable blade sets: Low-Wind for 2 to 20 m/s, Moderate-Wind for 4 to 25 m/s and High-Wind for 5 to 35 m/s. On an island named after the wind you might expect the high-wind set, but the low-wind blades are a clever choice for many sites. They start turning at just 2 m/s, so the turbine produces in the gentle sea breezes too, not only in the gales. And because the blades are aluminium, 65% lighter than steel, they respond the moment the wind picks up.

Why wind matters on a small island

Like most of Sicily's smaller islands, Pantelleria is not connected to the mainland grid and has to generate its own electricity. That makes every kilowatt-hour produced on the island valuable, and it makes the island's own resources, the sun and the wind that gave it its name, the obvious place to look. A turbine on a dammuso roof is a small step in that direction, and we are glad an Atlas is taking it. To our customer on Pantelleria: grazie, and enjoy the wind.

Sources: Wikipedia, Pantelleria; UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, vite ad alberello (2014). Satellite image: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2023). Photographs: Michael Leithold (public domain). Engravings: L'Illustrazione Italiana, 1882.

Portugal is not a big country, but when it comes to wind and sun it plays well above its size. Steady ocean winds sweep in along its long coastline and over its hills, while the south, from the Alentejo plains to the Algarve, enjoys some of the strongest sunshine in Europe. The country has already closed its last coal-fired power plants, and today most of its electricity comes from water, wind and sun.

71% renewable in a single year

According to the national grid operator REN, renewable sources covered 71% of Portugal's electricity consumption in 2024. Hydro supplied 28%, wind 27%, solar 10% and biomass 6%. Solar is growing fastest: about 1.5 GW of new renewable capacity was connected during 2024, and most of it was solar.

149 hours on wind, water and sun

Between 31 October and 6 November 2023, Portugal's renewable power plants produced more electricity than the whole country consumed for 149 hours in a row, about six days. In that time renewables generated 1,102 GWh against a consumption of 840 GWh, and the surplus was exported to Spain.

Why it matters for the whole EU

Portugal shows that a European country can run most of its grid on renewables and still keep the lights on. Its Atlantic position adds something few other countries have: open-ocean wind. Off Viana do Castelo, WindFloat Atlantic was one of Europe's first floating offshore wind farms, turbines anchored in deep water where fixed foundations are not possible. As connections across the Iberian Peninsula and into France grow, more of that clean power can flow to the rest of Europe.

Ambitious targets for 2030

Portugal's revised National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC 2030) raises the bar again. It aims for about 20.8 GW of solar power, 10.4 GW of onshore wind and 2 GW of offshore wind by 2030, which would make wind and solar the backbone of the national grid.

Our latest order: FHCLIMA in Caldas da Rainha

Our most recent order comes from FHCLIMA, a climatisation company in Caldas da Rainha, in Portugal's Oeste region, about an hour north of Lisbon and only a few kilometres from the Atlantic. They chose an Atlas vertical wind turbine. Heating and cooling specialists know better than anyone how much energy a building uses, so we are proud that they picked Atlas. Thank you, FHCLIMA, and welcome to the TESUP family.

Wind and sun, working together

Portugal's own grid proves the point: the best results come when wind and solar work as a team. The sun delivers in the middle of the day and in summer, while the wind often keeps blowing in the evening, at night and through the winter. Atlas is built for exactly that combination and works alongside solar panels, so a home or business can make use of both.

Sources: REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais (2024 figures, reported by pv magazine); APREN; Portugal's National Energy and Climate Plan (PNEC 2030).

Aluminium is light, strong and resists corrosion, which makes it ideal for a machine that lives outdoors in all weathers. But a part is only as good as the way it is made. That is why we keep the important steps in our own hands.

1. It starts with the mould

Before any metal is poured, the mould has to be right. Moulds are machined from solid blocks of steel, pass after pass, until every curve of the future part is there in the steel. A good mould means every part that comes out of it is the same.

2. Casting: aluminium takes shape

Molten aluminium fills the mould and takes its exact shape as it cools. These cast covers have just come out of the mould. You can still see the extra metal around the edges, and the TESUP name cast right into the part.

On the lathe

Straight from the mould, every cover goes onto the lathe. The casting is chucked, spun up and faced so the bearing seat and the centre bore run perfectly true. The bright aluminium swarf piling up below is the part of the casting we remove to get from “cast” to “precise”.

3. Cutting it perfect

A casting is close to the final shape, but not close enough. So every part is machined: CNC machines take away the extra metal, face the surfaces flat and cut the seats and holes exactly where they need to be. That is what makes parts fit together cleanly, turn smoothly and stay sealed against the weather.

Laser-cut sheet

Not every part is cast. Flat parts are cut from aluminium sheet on our fibre laser, which follows the drawing to the line and leaves clean edges, ready for bending and assembly.

The result

Cast for strength, cut for precision. This is how the bodies and covers of our Atlas and Magnum turbines are made, and why they fit together the way they do.

This is the generator at the heart of the TESUP Atlas wind turbine. We usually show it on the workbench or in a box. This time we simply stopped and looked at it, the way you look at a sculpture.

One line

The body is a single, calm curve of aluminium: up, over and down, with soft rounded corners. Nothing is added for show. The black panel sits inside the curve like a picture inside its frame.

A panel you can read

On the front, everything has its place. Inputs for wind and solar. An output to your inverter or battery. A display and a dial. A sensor socket, an antenna and the connection for the MyTESUP app. The charge controller is built in, so the panel is also where the energy is managed.

Seen from above

From above, the generator is almost a still life: a polished shaft rising from its bearing, a few screws, and a white label with a serial number and QR code. Every Atlas generator carries its own, so each one can be traced from our workshop to its new home.

Why call it art?

Because good engineering and good design end up in the same place: nothing extra, nothing missing. When it is turning in the wind on a roof or a pole, you will not see it this closely. So we wanted to show it to you once, up close.

Pallet by pallet, the stacker lifted every load onto the truck. Each pallet is built up box by box, stretch-wrapped tight and checked before it goes on board.

Loaded and wrapped

Big cube boxes with carry handles go at the bottom, long flat cartons on top, and every box carries its own TESUP label with a serial number. That is how a TESUP pallet travels: as one solid block, from our warehouse to your door.

Atlas generators, ready for the road

Also on board: Atlas generators, each with its charge controller built in. Everything is on one panel: inputs for wind and solar, an output to your inverter or battery, a display and dial, a sensor socket and the connection for the MyTESUP app.

Every unit has its own serial number and QR code, so we can trace each one from our workshop to its new home.

Thank you, Germany

To everyone in Germany waiting for a TESUP turbine: your order is on its way. Thank you for choosing TESUP. We can't wait to see your Atlas or Magnum spinning.

When you tick the battery option on the Atlas or Magnum product page, this is the generator your turbine gets. It is built for 12, 24 or 48 V battery banks, off-grid or as backup.

Why thicker wire

A battery bank works at a low voltage, so the generator has to deliver more current. Thicker wire carries more current, which is why the battery option uses 0.90 mm copper instead of our standard 0.55 mm winding.

60 turns, slot by slot

The stator is a stack of thin steel laminations with a ring of slots inside. Each slot is lined with white insulation, so the copper never touches the steel, and then filled with 60 turns of 0.90 mm enamelled copper wire.

Inverter or battery?

Most homes send their wind power to a grid inverter. For that, the standard 0.55 mm winding is the right choice, and you do not need a charge controller or batteries.

If you charge batteries instead, choose the battery option and your turbine gets the 0.90 mm winding. The Atlas has its charge controller built in and connects straight to the battery. The Magnum connects through the separate TESUP charge controller.

“Artgerechte Tierhaltung steht bei uns im Vordergrund,” the farm says: keeping horses the way horses are meant to live comes first. To make that possible, there are 200 hectares of pastures and meadows where the horses can recover from competitions, training and everyday challenges, and simply grow up healthy.

Life in the herd

Many horses here live in open stables (Offenställe) in small, settled herds: mares and geldings, young and old, from ponies to draught horses. There is a herd of Icelandic horses and a group of seniors, most of them over twenty.

Hay is fed from nets so the horses can nibble slowly through the day, in some stables around the clock. In summer the herds go out to the big pastures, some of them overnight.

Space to roam

Around the farm there are meadows, woods and lakes. Riders can hack out on sandy tracks and paths around the farm without crossing a single road.

Built around the horse

Three stable wings offer boxes and paddock boxes, including a stable for horses with allergies, where they are fed haylage only. For work and recovery there are five outdoor arenas, a 20 × 80 m indoor arena, a lunging hall, a round pen, a horse walker, a solarium, a salt-brine room and washing bays with horse showers.

Dressage riders, show jumpers, leisure riders and carriage drivers all feel at home here.

Why a Magnum fits

A farm like this uses power every day: for the lights in the stables and the indoor arena, for the horse walker and for the solarium. And open Brandenburg land, with wide pastures and few obstacles, is exactly the kind of strong, open wind the TESUP Magnum is built for.

Thank you, Reiterhof Schenkenhorst, for choosing TESUP and for letting us share these photos. We are glad to be part of a place where the horses come first.

Visit Reiterhof Schenkenhorst →

TESUP Metal Industries is based in Slovakia and sells aluminium sheets and sheet rolls online at tesupmetal.com. Its products are made in Europe and delivered fast, usually within two days across Europe.

What you can order

• Aluminium Sheet, grade 1050. Flat sheets of 1250 × 2500 mm, in 1.2 mm (10.16 kg per sheet) or 4.0 mm (33.88 kg per sheet).
• Aluminium Sheet Roll, grade 1050. 1.0 mm sheet on the roll, sold by the tonne. How many rolls make up a tonne depends on the thickness.

Why grade 1050

Grade 1050 is commercially pure aluminium, at least 99.5% aluminium. In the H14 temper it is half-hard: strong enough for most general sheet metal work, yet easy to bend and form.

It resists corrosion very well and has a bright, highly reflective finish. That is why it turns up in food containers and kitchenware, architectural flashings, lamp reflectors, cable sheathing and panelling, and in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Need parts, not sheets?

TESUP Metal also offers high-precision custom laser cutting for industry. To ask for a tailored quote, create an account on tesup.com and send us your request.

One family, two jobs

TESUP builds wind turbines for homes. TESUP Metal supplies the aluminium that other workshops and manufacturers build with. Two businesses, one family, and the same care for good material.

An Atlas, with its blade set, is heading to Manawatū in New Zealand. A Magnum is heading to the lakes of eastern Finland. Different turbines, different climates, the same idea: making your own power where the grid is far away, thin or expensive.

18,733 km

That is the straight-line distance from London to Manawatū. London's exact opposite point on the globe lies in the ocean just south-east of New Zealand, so this Atlas is going very nearly to the other side of the world.

Manawatū is one of New Zealand's windiest regions, with wind farms on the ranges above the plains. Out there, a turbine makes power right where it is used, with no long cable run to pay for.

1,992 km

North-east of London, the Magnum is going into the Finnish Lakeland: a maze of lakes, forest and long winters. When the days are short, solar panels do little. That is when wind does the work.

Why remote matters

• The grid thins out. Far from town, power lines are long, costly and the first thing a storm takes down.
• The wind does not. Open farmland, coasts and lakes are often the windiest places of all.
• It travels well. Every TESUP turbine is packed to go as ordinary freight, from a lake in Finland to the North Island of New Zealand.

Every order is a pin on our map. Thank you to both of our new owners. We will be glad to see your turbines spinning.

It is one of our customers' clips, shared on the TESUP YouTube channel as a Short: “Customer Tests Tesup Atlas Wind Turbine with Anemometer”. As we write this it has 5,982,757 views and 40,000 likes, and it is still climbing.

What you see

There is no studio and no drone. An Atlas stands on a short steel stand on a tin roof, cables running from its base, with hills and an evening sky behind it. The blades sweep past the lens again and again.

Why it works

• It looks like nothing else. A vertical turbine does not look like the three-blade windmill people expect, so they stop scrolling.
• It never needs to turn to face the wind. The Atlas takes wind from any direction, so it keeps working when the wind is gusty, turbulent or shifting.
• It is real. A customer's roof, a customer's phone, a real breeze. People can tell.

Thank you to everyone who watched, liked and shared it, and to the customer who filmed it. If you have an Atlas or a Magnum on your roof, send us your video. The next one could be yours.