In 1891, the Danish engineer and inventor Poul la Cour established an experimental wind power station at Askov in Jutland, Denmark, systematically investigating the aerodynamic properties of wind turbine blades and developing efficient systems for generating electricity and producing hydrogen through electrolysis. La Cour's Askov experiments established the scientific principles of modern wind energy engineering and led to the formation of the Society of Wind Electricians in Denmark, which by 1900 had trained over 1,000 rural electricians and connected hundreds of rural Danish communities to wind-generated electricity. His work made Denmark the world pioneer of wind electricity.

La Cour's wind electricity work at Askov coincided with Denmark's great cultural flourishing of the late nineteenth century — the age of Ibsen's influence, Georg Brandes's literary criticism, and the emergence of Scandinavian literature as a global cultural force. The Danish rural electrification that La Cour's windmills enabled transformed the conditions of literacy and reading across Jutland and the islands, expanding the literate audience for Danish-language poetry and prose. The association of wind power with Danish national self-reliance became a recurring theme in Scandinavian literary identity.