Waterways to strike a blow against climate change

The proposals are based on a target of 50 wind turbines built across the UK over the next five years that will have the capacity to generate 100 mega watts of renewable electricity. Income that British Waterways generates from the turbines will be reinvested into maintaining the nation's historic waterways.

Robin Evans, British Waterways chief executive, said: "This is a real example of a public organisation using its land in innovative ways to generate additional income and work towards a more sustainable future. We look after 2,200 miles of canals and rivers throughout the UK and, whilst always protecting their heritage, are proactively looking at how we can use this resource to make a contribution towards the fight against climate change.

"We believe that our waterside land could host around 100 megawatts of renewable energy capacity – some 219,000 mega watt hours. If we successfully develop this resource it would mean that the nation's canal network would generate more than ten times more electricity than it consumes."

Partnerships for Renewables, with the backing of HSBC’s Environmental Infrastructure Fund, will be covering the costs of the development process and using their in-house expertise to ensure that only environmentally appropriate sites are developed.

Stephen Ainger, chief executive of Partnerships for Renewables, said: "When Partnerships for Renewables was set up by the Carbon Trust it was in the knowledge that the public sector owned more than 10% of the land in the UK, but was having real difficulty translating this resource into renewable energy generation. We believe that this announcement marks the beginning of a trend in the public sector to embrace the potential of renewable energy generation and it is great to see that British Waterways has demonstrated the vision to become a torch bearer for others to follow."

Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner Nick Rau said: "We're delighted that British Waterways is planning to take action on climate change by generating its own safe, clean renewable energy and cutting fuel bills at the same time. Community-scale renewable energy projects such as hydropower schemes and wind turbines have a huge role to play in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels and helping Britain to develop a low-carbon economy. It is clear that renewable energy generation development could offer substantial economic and environmental benefits right across the public sector and we hope that other public organisations follow the lead set by British Waterways."