The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced that London’s tube network is moving towards being powered entirely by renewable electricity.
Marking the start of London Climate Action Week, the Mayor shared that Transport for London has launched a Power Purchase Agreement tender, with the ambition of using 100% renewable source electricity across its operations by 2030 and catalysing investment into renewable infrastructure. This first tender aims to purchase approximately 10% of TfL’s required electricity from renewable energy sources and new build assets.
TfL is one of the largest consumers of electricity in the UK, with a requirement for up to 1.6TWh per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumed by around 420,000 homes or 12% of homes across London. The tender will guarantee that the electricity supplied to power the Tube and TfL’s operations through the contract will come from renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar power.
Lilli Matson, Chief Safety, Health and Environment Officer at TfL, said: “As one of the largest electricity consumers in the UK, we are absolutely committed to doing what we can to decarbonise London through clean, renewable energy. TfL is already a world leader in many environmental initiatives, and we are pleased to have now started procurement on our first Power Purchase Agreement which forms the next major step in our quest to make all our services powered via renewable electricity by 2030.
“Once in place, approximately 10 per cent of our required electricity will come from renewable energy sources, delivered by ‘new build assets’. These will support the wider UK economy by creating green jobs in construction and operation.”
