Abstract
Although wind energy exploitation dates back five thousand years ago, contemporary societies are based almost exclusively on fossil fuels for covering their electrical energy needs. On the other hand, during the last thirty years, security of energy supply and environmental issues have reheated the interest for wind energy applications. In this context, the present work traces the long and difficult steps of wind energy development from the California era to the construction of huge offshore wind parks worldwide, highlighting the prospects and the main challenges of wind energy applications towards the target of 1000 GW of wind power by 2030.