Abstract The design and selection procedure of airfoil sections for small wind turbine blades is discussed and implemented in this paper. It is found that for blades up to 5 m long, two different airfoils mixed at the outer third of the span will be sufficient and have demonstrated good strength and aerodynamic characteristics. The rotorblade design was executed using glassfiber reinforced plastic and then installed on a 15 kW grid-connected-pitch-controlled machine. A static proof-load test indicated that the blade could withstand loads 10 times the normal working thrust, and a field performance test showed that the rotorblade has a 41.2% measured average power coefficient.