The fact that la Cour's ideal mill looked very much like the traditional Dutch windmill resulted in some criticism of his work, and government support was reduced in 1902. But by that time most of the experimental work had been completed and published, and he only considered these experiments a means to his goal which was the development of the rural areas in Denmark. It thus happened that in 1902 the windmill in Askov became a prototype electrical power plant serving the village of Askov until 1958 with batteries for energy storage and a petrol-engine for reserve power.