The Crossness sewage treatment works, one of Europe’s largest, already generates 20% of the energy it uses by burning sludge. With the addition of a wind turbine the plant will generate half its energy from onsite renewable sources.

The new wind turbine is part of a wider plan to adapt the plant to the effects of climate change, including an increase in capacity to cope with heavy downpours.

“We’re getting heavier more intense rainfall episodes, which is having a direct impact on the capacity of our sewage treatment to cope with the amount of sewage and rainwater that is coming in, which then overflows into the river Thames. So the plant is essentially being improved to cope with climate change,” a spokesperson for Thames Water told edie.

A £400m investment programme in the South East London plant which serves 2m people will fund works to minimise odours as well as increasing capacity and installing the wind turbine.

Victor Freeney, Thames Water’s senior project manager, said: “We’re committed to a massive programme of investment across all our London sewage treatment works, not only to cope with the demands of population growth and climate change, but to ensure that we can improve the environmental quality of the River Thames.”

More information can be found here.

Goska Romanowicz

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