London’s Crossrail Uses Wind From Trains to Make Electricity

Charlotte Slingsby wants to bring wind power to the city. The 27-year-old, who grew up in Cape Town was inspired by her hometown’s weather patterns and tendencies to experience power failures.

This is what inspired her to start Moya Power; a startup that sets up wind farms along the countryside, at sea, and inside cities, using existing infrastructures to help harvest the wind. Slingsby has installed grids of lamellae-covered plastic sheets around the tunnels in London’s crossrail lines, which flutter against the wind in the tubes and then generate electricity.

The startup founder said that even cities can find a way to generate cleaner energy, and that her main goal was to create something anyone could use. “I wanted to create something that works in different situations and that can be flexibly adapted, whether you live in an urban hut or a high-rise.”

When her project is further along, it could potentially turn skyscrapers and bridges into massive energy sources, generating power for thousands of people, while doing minimal damage to the environment.