Iberdrola, European leader in wind energy, recently expanded to France and needed to raise brand awareness about its commitment to make renewable and local energy accessible.

Turnstile Turbines allowed people to experience Iberdrola’s brand purpose in everyday life, in one of the densest networks in the world – the Paris subway. By transforming an object nobody pays attention to, turnstiles, we created the first ever underground wind turbines.

More than 30,000 commuters experienced the Turnstile Turbines creating thousands of watts in the station. The initiative also engaged millions of people through TV, press and social media.

Iberdrola, a Spanish company and European leader in wind energy, expanded to France in 2019. However, as a newcomer, they faced the challenge of low awareness in the market.

Our mission was to raise awareness of the brand and its purpose: to provide 100% accessible renewable energy powered by wind energy.

In a time where energy independence is crucial for France, we wanted to show that green and local energy can be found everywhere, and be a smart challenger brand to non-renewable energy competitors.

In addition, Iberdrola wanted to emphasize that they are not solely an energy provider, but also a cutting-edge energy producer in wind energy technology.

Europe has been going through an unprecedented energy crisis with governments asking people to make efforts to avoid power cuts. Crises often present opportunities to reevaluate. Iberdrola, the European leader in wind energy, had a role to play: to remind people and stakeholders the importance of green and local solutions.

Everyday 4.5 million commuters pass through turnstiles, so we turned this effort into a new energy source, and reinventing the turnstiles into the world’s first underground wind turbines: the Turnstile Turbines. Hand in hand with Iberdrola engineers, 14 engineering students successfully constructed a functional prototype capable of generating energy.

The mechanism is inspired by wind turbines' systems and automatic watches. The design was intended to resemble real wind turbines, allowing people to immediately comprehend the object's new purpose. Prototypes were installed in the subway station, Miromesnil, in the heart of Paris, generating thousands watts of renewable energy per day.

Local and green energy is now an option due to companies like Iberdrola. With the energy crisis, we recognized an opportunity to reaffirm this message. We decided to exaggerate and showcase that renewable energy can be generated in even the most unexpected places.

We chose the Parisian subway - one of the world's busiest networks with 1.7 billion commuters annually - as the ideal location for maximum engagement.

We turned an iconic object, the turnstiles, which had remained almost unchanged since its first use in 1916. By giving a new purpose to the turnstiles and transforming it (and the commuters) into a new source of energy, we ensured to get the attention of media, people and stakeholders.

Partnering with students for the production process was also a means of engaging the future generation in a project designed for them, as well as targeting an additional angle: students.

From January to June 2022, 14 students from the engineering school Junia HEI worked hand in hand with Iberdrola engineers to handle the entire production process.

We designed and created 6 prototypes capable of generating over 0.2 watts of renewable energy per person, translating to a potential of over 900,000 watts of renewable energy every day in the Parisian subway with its 4.5 million daily commuters. This is enough energy to power an entire subway line and reduce carbon emissions by more than 30,000 tons annually.

To promote the Turnstile Turbines, we invited press, influencers, and politicians to visit the site with the engineering students. The prototypes were then sent to Madrid for the next installation. In addition, 2 other engineering schools are currently working on improving the Turnstile Turbines.

The Turnstile Turbine prototypes were well-received in Paris, and subsequently sent to Madrid for installation in their subway system. Furthermore, two other engineering schools are currently working on improving the Turnstile Turbines.

During the campaign, more than 30,000 people interacted with the prototypes, including a French senator who spoke to the press about the project. A survey conducted after the campaign showed that 73% of commuters wanted to switch to renewable energy after seeing the Turnstile Turbines.

The campaign generated 130 million organic impressions, including an article in Ouest France, the most read French newspaper. The Turnstile Turbine project also made an appearance on the American morning show, NBC’s TODAY, where presenter Al Roker praised the project and challenged the New York subway system to implement it.

As the government urges people to conserve energy and energy bills continue to rise, the energy crisis has sparked a national debate around achieving energy independence through local and independent energy production. In this debate, companies like Iberdrola are promoting wind energy as a viable solution.

As the French saying goes, "we don't have gas, but we have ideas." Turnstile Turbines demonstrated that with a little creativity and ingenuity, we can generate our own green energy, even in unexpected locations.