London's first wind park sparks up

11 May 2004

Two giant wind turbines can now be seen towering 85m above Ford Motor Company's Dagenham site. With a combined capacity of 3.6MW the state of the art Enercon turbines will generate over 6.7million kWh of clean electricity every year, providing all the electricity needed to power Ford's new Dagenham Diesel Centre.

Located only 16km (10 miles) from the City of London, the development will create a major new Thames-side landmark for the capital and will make a key contribution to the renewable energy targets outlined in the Mayor of London's draft energy strategy - preventing the emission of up to 6,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year.

Dale Vince OBE, Ecotricity's Managing Director, added: "This is one of our biggest projects to date and we are delighted to be behind London's first wind park. Our turbines will be providing Ford with enough electricity to power over 2,000 homes and we hope that this project will raise awareness of wind power as a viable alternative energy source."

Ford of Britain chairman Roger Putnam said: "There were very good business and environmental reasons for embarking on this project - green power from Ecotricity is not costing Ford a penny more and there are huge environmental benefits too. Thousands of tonnes of power station emissions are saved by switching our electricity source for the Dagenham Diesel Centre to wind power."

 Prime Minister Tony Blair opened Ford's new high tech Dagenham Diesel Centre in November last year, marking a £325 million investment in diesel engine engineering and manufacturing on the estate. The two wind turbines will generate 100% of the electricity requirements of the plant, which produces a high performance 2.7 litre V6 engine in its 'Clean Room' Assembly Hall. Inside engines are assembled in sterile conditions, as required for the latest common rail fuel and turbo systems. The first car to feature the new V6 Dagenham diesel engine is the Jaguar S-Type, now on sale.