Das Projekt "Experimentelle Verifizierung von Lastannahmen kleiner Windkraftanlagen im Inselbetrieb" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Deutsches Windenergie-Institut durchgeführt. The project aims at the improvement of the quality and safety standards of small standalone wind turbines. A draft international standard for small wind turbines has been prepared by IEC. The aim of the project is to validate the rules by measurements. The proposed design rules for small wind turbines in the IEC draft allow to calculate the mechanical stresses in the main components of the wind turbine (blades, shaft, support, structure), caused by extreme and fatigue loading. Within the present project, measurements are carried out on three small commercial wind turbines of different design. The machines are located on different test stations in Europe: an WENUS Inventus 6 machine at DEWI test station in Geemany, a Proven WT 2200 machine at the test station of NEL in Scotland and an LMW 1003 machine at the test Station of CRES in Greece. Mechanical loads are measured in blades, shaft and tower, together with other quantities necessary for the evaluation (wind data, electrical power, etc.). The measured loads will be compared with the values calculated for the specific designs according to the simple method of the draft IEC standard. From the comparison, conclusions will be drawn for a refinement of the international standard and towards the Essential Requirements of the applicable European Council Directives.