This eco-friendly solution generates energy to support the production of thousands of green and clean snacks and meals, ensuring over 200,000 festival-goers can enjoy delicious food while minimising their environmental impact.
The eye-catching wind turbine is 20 metres tall with 8 metre-long blades – the height of 5 large giraffes – and is finished off with Octopus tentacles wrapped around its purple tower and pink blades.
Eye-catching design
The temporary structure was erected in a day in William’s Green Field, near the famous Pyramid stage. The wind turbine and solar panels will supply clean energy to a microgrid, which will power food vendors in the field to serve snacks made with super low-carbon energy. It is expected to produce up to 300kWh of energy daily to power 300 fridges.
Octopus has also installed solar panels to complement the wind turbine and a battery to store the green energy produced.
Octopus Energy has already become the ongoing energy provider to Worthy Farm, providing 100% renewable electricity to the iconic dairy farm which hosts the festival, and together they plan to increase the use of renewable energy in future festivals.
Setting a fossil-fuel-free future
The partners are also working on-site with the festival’s long-term, temporary power team to explore providing even more sustainable energy to the festival in future years.
Sustainability has always been at the heart of Glastonbury Festival. The Green Fields area has run on solar, wind and pedal power since 1984, setting a fossil-fuel-free standard the festival work towards implementing across the site.
The festival has prioritised environmental responsibility by replacing chemical toilets with compost loos; ensuring waste is carefully hand-separated for single-stream recycling at its on-site recycling centre; prohibiting non-compostable serveware; and, in 2019, banning the sale of single-use plastic drink bottles on-site.
That same year, Worthy Farm installed an anaerobic digester and biogas plant power to sit alongside its existing solar PV array to help better embrace renewable energy.
Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, commented: “When I met Emily I was immediately struck by so many shared values. What was planned to be a short meeting went on for hours as we discussed what makes for a better world.
“I am excited to be able to not only generate green energy at the festival but to work together for the long term too.”