Ecotricity to build a third turbine for Ford

03 April 2008

The two Ecotricity turbines at Ford's Dagenham plant have been major London landmarks since they were built in 2004. They will soon be joined by a third.

Located only 10 miles from the City of London, the development will secure Ecotricity and Ford's place at the forefront of London's bid to reduce it's carbon emissions.

Built under Ecotricity's Merchant Wind Power scheme (MWP), the existing two turbines supply green energy to Ford's Dagenham Diesel Centre (DDC). Every Ford engine manufactured at the DDC has been built using wind power. A third turbine will allow Ford to match expanding manufacturing capacity with 100% of energy needs from carbon zero green energy.

Roelant de Waard, Ford of Britain chairman and managing director, said: "Ford Dagenham is at the forefront of sustainable business - evident in both its manufacturing and products. Low carbon cars are developing an increasingly significant marketplace of their own, with Ford's ECOnetic range leading on performance and production."

Ecotricity pioneered the use of wind turbines to power industry, building the UK's first fully commercial wind turbine for Sainsbury's in 2001 and since then has been powering other household names such as Michellin, B&Q, The Prudential, Lotus Cars and The Co operative Bank.

"Ford were one of the first companies we approached, many years ago now, with the idea of powering their operations with on site wind energy. Our goal was to engage big business in the issue of climate change and the role that wind energy has to play in the future.

Also expecting that when household names such as Ford used wind energy every day to do their job, it would be a powerful endorsement of the credibility of wind energy. It's quite special to see demand for these cleaner engines grow and we're delighted to be working with Ford to increase their capacity to build more 'wind powered diesel engines'". Dale Vince, OBE, MD Ecotricity.

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About Merchant Wind Power
MWP is about on site use of wind energy - wind energy on brownfield and industrial sites. Ecotricity takes all the risk and cost of development, building and operating the wind turbines and supplies it's clients with green electricity generated on site. The client has no capital cost or risk, but gains a tangible and visible symbol of action against climate change, green electricity from a secure source (dedicated to them) and annual savings as this new green energy is actually cheaper than their existing supply of conventional power. Ecotricity pioneered this concept in 2001 when it built the UK's first fully commercial wind turbine for Sainsbury's. MWP clients now include Ford, Sainsbury's, B&Q, The Prudential, Co-operative bank, Lotus cars and MCFC.

About Ecotricity
Ecotricity is a green electricity company. A developer of wind farms, generator and supplier of green electricity. Set up by Dale Vince in 1996, the company was the first in the world to make green electricity available to end users. Ecotricity is the largest supplier of homes in the UK outside the Big Six (privatised utilities, it has built one in eight of the UKs wind farms and supplies over 35,000 customers, across the UK. The company was founded with the express mission to change the way electricity is made in the UK, in order to tackle the UK's biggest single source of climate change - the burning of fossil fuels to make conventional power supplies.

For further press enquiries please contact
Madeline Carroll - Madeline.carroll@ecotricity.co.uk - 01453 769318
Oliver Rowe - orowe@ford.com - 01277 252216