Mollie Green says: This is not a new idea but it would be great if it really did work. Sadly most lamposts are designed to crumple if hit by a vehicle (for safety) and are certainly not strong enough to resist the wind load created by even a small turbine mounted near its top. However there may be other stronger structures surrounding the road system that could be better - cell-phone masts, overhead gantries etc.

I think you should do some maths to show what you could generate for what sort of wind loading, then you could find a structure to suit.

Jonas Van Poucke says: Actually Mollie, all center lighting poles are protected by a concrete seperator on our highways. Also the center poles are bigger and stronger than your average lampost in your own street. The units themselves are made out of carbon fiber, what makes it very light weigt.
The units will weight about 25kg per set.

The windturbine concept itself is not new (exists since 1889), but what is new, is how you can use them on a large scale without disrupting the landscape much more as it already is and how to use the existing power lines and implementation of a single power transformer in a serie, cutting down the product and installation costs by 70%.

This is a 2.5Kw unit, and 5Kw per set, and should if made in a large order of 1000 cost about 1200€ each.
A large windturbine, generates 600 kW (with a theoretical max : 24×600 = 14400 kWh), the windleeches have a theoretical max : 24x5 = 120 kWh)

One unit will not power a lot of houses, but a 1000 would do the trick. 1000 units would be able to power 14.000/16.000 homes. For that you would need units on every center pole on 84 km of highway (Antwerp/Ghent, Ghent/Brussels, Antwerp/Brussles)

Jonas Van Poucke says: Also Mollie, Lampost are designed to crumple if hit by a car, because the post design is strong if the basic shape is kept. Indeed, if you disrupt it by hitting it with a car, it is designed to crumple.

The turbine does not alter the form of the pole in any way, and also doens't absorb much kinetic energy.

Jonas Van Poucke says: Another thing that makes the turbines more efficient, is that they will even work when there is practically no wind. Because it would also capture winds created by passing cars, turning it into very efficient wind farms.

Arnulf Knittel says: Dear Jonas van Poucke, I think the UK just wakes up from a similar dream, installing small roof-top wind turbines at large scale... Moreover, servicing such a lot of dispersed facilities is an ardeous task. Small wind turbines do need a lot of servicing per kWh produced, and together with the relatively high investment per square meter rotor area this yields in a high price of electricity. Our experience with a small (250 W) and robust two-blader points to roughly a 10-fold price when compared to 'large wind'. Also, you need staff trained and certified for working in heights to access these things on utility structures for instance. If you knew the potential pitfalls during such work, the risks and the dependency on weather and personal condition, you would not like to send your colleagues up a mast just to service a 1-kW turbine. Where there is grid, and this is where you have masts you can 'leach', there are more efficient and safer ways to convert wind power, if we as a society where ready... Best regards and good luck!

Dan Frederiksen says: I think it's a genuinely good idea since the post is already there with wires to the powergrid. And I don't think a lot are designed to crumple even if that would be a reason it wouldn't work.

but I think there are a couple of reasons why it's just a good idea and not a great one. as pointed out, a lot of such mills can probably be supplanted by a single larger one that is ultimately cheaper but not sure. if the math works out in your favor it's still a good idea.
and second, even if these mills were put on most large posts, it would probably not cover a significant portion of energy consumption. maybe you can do an estimate on that for a country.
but if only as a powerful symbol and a beginning I have rated this 4

steve clemens says: I agree that the idea is not absolutely new, but it is still a great idea.

Small wind is much more expensive than big wind indeed, but thausands of these smaller Savonius turbines would cause NO Nimby whatsoever, on existing, grid-connected, highway-side streetlight poles (of which Belgium must have millions).

I don't think your design here can produce 2,5kW though. The swept area is simply too small, but even if it's only 500W a piece, it's still a good idea.

In light of Mollie's remark, i.e. the pole was not designed for these loads: small VAWT's don't produce a lot of electricity, so they also don't load the substructure much. The extra loads might very well be within design margins. If not, possibly a small alteration at pole-foundation level might do the trick.
Maintenance is not an issue at all: first, such devices are usually made maintenance-free, like small marine wind turbines, and second, it seems that the whole device could made so to slide down the pole when needed.

So go for it Jonas!
(but do correct match and don't ignore physical reality)