How Innovative Street Turbines are Turning Wind From Passing Cars into Electricity

While crossing a busy road have you ever stood at the divider in-between feeling like you might get blown away because of the wind generated by the traffic whizzing past you?

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Imagine if there was a way to convert that wind energy into electricity – given the volume of traffic on Indian roads, this might be a rather lucrative proposition.

In 2021, Istanbul Technical University designed and installed wind turbines in the streets of Istanbul to generate electricity using the wind generated by the traffic. The vertical turbines that have been installed along the roads are known as ENLIL and the University has developed this with Devecitech, a tech firm in Istanbul.

It was entrepreneur Kerem Deveci who came up with the idea of building an ENLIL.

Kerem noticed during a journey on Istanbul’s Metrobus network that the vehicle he was travelling on was susceptible to wind influences — the covers of each emergency evacuation value wouldn’t stop flapping because of it.

He subsequently worked on this idea and the prototype of the turbine was made in Kerem’s bedroom.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)