Meet Alpha 311

"Why hasn't anyone tried to harness the energy from passing vehicles?"

That was the question that kickstarted Alpha 311.

This was before the global pandemic, when there wasn't an energy crisis at the level there is today, and when interest rates weren’t through the roof. 

It turns out that designing a wind turbine from scratch is really hard work, especially when the above challenges pop up… one after the other.

But from the very beginning, we’ve always focused on the benefits that local energy generation should bring, and how using what we’ve already built (roads, phone towers, schools, etc...) can provide a platform for turbines and have a positive impact on the community.

For example:

• Placing our turbines at a school brings down the school's energy bills and means there is more money to spend on educating our children.
• Mounting turbines alongside solar panels on a hospital means more can be spent on patient care.
• Providing power to a local business results in energy savings meaning it can hire more people. 

We believe that local energy generation should do more than provide bigger profits for the people selling it. 

Now apply this philosophy to developing nations, where more than 4 billion people have little access to consistent electrical energy, and you can see how local renewable energy can bring about monumental change. Local renewable power isn’t just about turning on a light at the end of the day, it can provide heating and a source for cooking, it can power water pumps overnight or even an internet connection to facilitate education and business.

If a renewable solution is to be truly accessible it must be cost-effective. 

We are a small team which means having to focus our efforts, which is currently with larger clients. This means we are not prioritising a residential version of the Alpha 311 turbine… yet !

Despite the challenges that pop up from time to time, the huge wins for the planet, and local communities, make the effort worthwhile.