Manchester train station opens its own wind turbine

A railway station in Greater Manchester has installed a turbine to generate half of its energy needs. The 11 kilowatt, 23m tall Gaia turbine turbine on the Horwich Parkway station […]

A railway station in Greater Manchester has installed a turbine to generate half of its energy needs.

The 11 kilowatt, 23m tall Gaia turbine turbine on the Horwich Parkway station began generating this week and is claimed to be the largest turbine on an English train station.

Generating 25,000kWh of electricity a year, the turbine will help run everything at the station near Bolton: from kettles and computers to passenger information display and lights. It was switched on at a special ceremony yesterday.

Phil McVan, managing director of Myriad CEG Wind which installed the turbine said: “Astute organisations like Transport for Greater Manchester are looking to distance themselves from reliance on mains electricity because the forecasts are that prices will continue to increase.”

Cutting back 289 tonnes of CO2 over the turbine’s lifestyle, the project is part of Ticket to Kyoto, a European initiative to reduce carbon emissions in public transport. It is jointly funded by an EU programme, Bolton Council, the Northwest Regional Development Agency and TfGM.

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