British Waterways announces £150m of turbines

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :09/10/2008 10:30:17

British Waterways, the public body in charge of Britain’s canals, has announced plans with Partnerships for Renewables to start green energy generation.

Over the next five years British Waterways plans to install and maintain 50 wind turbines and an unspecified number of hydro-electric turbines along its 2,200 miles of canals and rivers.

The schemes should generate enough electricity to power 45,000 homes, and the money created will be used to maintain Britain’s historic waterways, locks and bridges.

British Waterways is "proactively looking at how we can use this resource to make a contribution towards the fight against climate change. If we successfully develop this resource it would mean that the nation's canal network would generate more than 10 times more electricity than it consumes," said Chief Executive Robin Evans.

Privately-funded group Partnerships for Renewables will be in charge of developing, constructing and managing all the electricity generation capacity. "It is great to see that British Waterways has demonstrated the vision to become a torch bearer for others to follow," said Stephen Ainger, Chief Executive of Partnerships for Renewables.

It is hoped that the scheme will have the capacity to power 230,000 homes within the next five to eight years.