Exiled to the shores of the Black Sea 2,000 years ago, the Roman poet Ovid discovered the powerful winds that blew across that eastern border of the empire. To this day the wind continues to blow inland as far as Fantanele, a Romanian village located a few dozen kilometres from the coast.

"That's why we call it the Black Sea," said Constantin Stanciu, a farmer in Fantanele. "It's a rough sea and when it's angry, which is often, it blows this far inland." The wind is the only certainty in this isolated, hilly region. The land is arid and rocky, which limits the farming possibilities. And to judge by the farmers' leathery skin, the sun is as strong as the wind. The inhabitants have been resigned to the wind's onslaught for centuries, and their poverty is apparent.

But today the wind of history has turned in the villagers' favour. Their former enemy has become an ally. Since November 2008, the Czech utility company CEZ Group has been installing one of Europe's largest windfarms in Fantanele, transforming the wind into a blessing: Fantanele farmers who have made their land available to CEZ can receive up to $3,800 a year.

"It's a godsend," said Constantin's wife, Filofteia. "We now get €1,800 ($2,280) a year and soon it will be €3,000 ($3,800)." That's a fortune in Fantanele. "Here in the country, you couldn't save as much in a lifetime as you get for the wind turbines in one year," she said.

CEZ Group's project was launched 18 months ago and the first stage was competed this year, with 115 turbines installed out of the planned 139 and ready to be connected to the Romanian electric grid.

The second stage, due to be completed at the end of 2011, will set up the 101 remaining wind turbines in the neighbouring village of Cogealac. Together, the 240 turbines will generate total capacity of 600MW, the equivalent of the nuclear reactor in Cernavoda, in the south-east of the country. "We want to cover 10% of total green energy production in Romania," said Cosmina Marin, head of communications at CEZ. "And to do that, we are investing €1.1 billion ($1.39bn)." Romania lags behind in clean energy and is committed through the European commission to producing 20% of its total energy requirements from renewable sources, in line with the 2020 EU objectives.

This can only be described as a windfall for Fantanele. About 100 farmers have found work on the project, alongside the 400 workers from all parts of Europe. A new network of roads and bridges has been built to convey the turbines, which can be up to 100 metres high.

Now the villagers have access to drinking water and the town hall is getting support for its request for $1.9m in European funding to lay pipes in the village. But mayor Gheorghe Popescu's biggest source of pride is the new sports ground he likes visitors to admire. "You see those turbines on the horizon?" he asks. "Well it's thanks to them that we have this sports ground, open to everyone!"

Gradually, Fantanele is shaking off its image as a poor and isolated village. The farmers are painting their houses with windfarm money. "And people are dressing better," observed Filofteia Stanciu, who works for the local government. "You can tell that they're better off. Some have lost their heads completely and bought fancy cars to show off. Well, people can do what they like, but everything is changing."

Filofteia has decided to invest the money she will be earning in her daughter's future. Twenty-three year-old Catalina Stanciu has just graduated in psychology from the University of Constanta, on the Black Sea coast. "As far as I'm concerned, those wind turbines mean me getting an MA," said Catalina. "Every time I return to Fantanele, I see those fields with all the turbines that make me think of a Don Quixote cartoon, I tell myself that if I can get an MA and be considering a doctorate in psychology, it's thanks to them."

Fantanele's windfarm success story is attracting the attention of other investors, looking for wind to generate cash. The world leader in the sector, the Spanish group Iberdrola, has opened an office in Bucharest and announced that it is ready to invest about $2.5bn in a windfarm, also near the Black Sea. It is earmarked to be the largest onshore wind energy project in the world. The arid land on which Ovid's exasperating winds blew are set to become the European wind energy El Dorado.

This article originally appeared in Le Monde