December 4th 2007

B&Q sign up to Ecotricity
Planning permission granted.

When B&Q got serious about wind power they didn’t go for DIY!

A familiar name to many when it comes to 'mini-wind', B&Q needed something bigger when it came to powering their operations. So we teamed up with them to power their main distribution centre with 100% New Green Energy from their own dedicated turbine. We announced this exciting project back in July. During our public consultation process, we didn't have a single negative response. The project had widespread community backing with comments like "great idea" and "we need more than one". Testament to our Good Neighbour policy. And the fact that the majority of people in the UK do support wind power...

Permission came through this week. This one went through in record time, three months to get through planning is pretty good going. "That's the speed these things are supposed to take but rarely do. If we're to seriously address climate change we need a planning system that performs like this as a rule rather than the exception to it - fingers crossed somebody in government (or opposition) may be listening" said Dale Vince, MD Ecotricity.

Once we get planning permission we don't hang around. We're planning to have this up and running by this time next year. And then each year for the next 30 years it'll power the whole distribution site and save over 5,000 tonnes of CO2 from being emitted each year - in it's lifetime that 150,000 tonnes of CO2. A very worthwhile contribution. B&Q deserve credit for that.