High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Starting in 1975, NASA managed a program for the United States Department of Energy and the United States Department of Interior to develop utility-scale wind turbines for electric power, in response to the increase in oil prices. A number of the world`s largest wind turbines were developed and tested under this pioneering program. The program was an attempt to leap well beyond the then-current state of the art of wind turbine generators, and was largely unsuccessful in development of commercial machines. The development of the commercial industry however was delayed by a significant decrease in competing energy prices during the 1980s.