The Turkish startup Device Technology introduced Enlil, a small vertical wind turbine that uses wind generated by road traffic to produce electricity. This solution aims to convert wind energy, be it natural or generated by the movement of cars, into a renewable source of electricity.
Innovation blows on the highways
If you could place a deckchair next to the guardrail of a motorway (don't do it!), you would realize how much breeze is formed by the passage of cars and trucks on the road. This often underestimated breeze has incredible potential. What if I told you that that simple breath of air could be transformed into electricity?
It is a bit like the vision of "road energy" which for Devici Technology goes beyond simple energy production. The Enlil turbine produced by the Turkish company not only captures the wind of combustion cars, but also that of electric cars. The idea is simple, as mentioned: transforming a potentially polluting source, traffic, into a solution for the production of renewable energy.
Where it all began: Istanbul
To demonstrate the validity of its technology, in 2018 the company positioned a prototype of Enlil between two carriageways on a street in Istanbul (we showed you the videos on our Telegram channel).
The strategic position allows the turbine to capture the wind coming from both directions of road traffic. And the results were interesting: with dense, smooth traffic, each of the Enlil turbines can produce up to 1 kWh of electricity per hour. With the right amount of equipment, they could power emergency poles and (LED) lights in highway tunnels. The project has gone ahead, it has had its phases of interruption due to Covid, and after 5 years it is ready to find a job.
Not just wind: a road HUB
Enlil is not just a wind turbine. Thanks to its “SMART” system, it can integrate a series of additional tools, such as sensors to measure pollution levels, data collection systems and even mechanisms for traffic management. It will also be able to contribute to the detection of earthquakes (a very important topic, especially in Turkey with the recent, disastrous earthquake which brought enormous consequences).
Roadside wind will be able to offer connectivity for autonomous vehicles, function as a Wi-Fi station and more.
Road wind power, there are also boundaries: a similar project in England
Turkey is not the only country to explore such innovations: in the UK, an entrepreneur named Barry Thompson has developed a similar road turbine, which attaches directly to highway lampposts.
His company, Alpha 311, aims to contribute to the UK's emissions targets by 2050. The turbines developed by his team, he says, could not only power streetlights but actually boost the national electricity grid. We'll see.
Initial studies for road wind technology:
- Title: “Experimental analysis of the effects of wakes on the performance of wind turbines”
- Year: 2011
- Summary: The study by M. Adaramola and P. Krogstad showed that the total energy output could be increased by installing an upstream turbine that extracts less energy than subsequent turbines. Renewable Energy
In an age where sustainability takes center stage, initiatives like these show that solutions can come from the most unexpected sources.
