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Glastonbury Festival is getting a pink and purple wind turbine

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Octopus Energy and Glastonbury Festival have teamed up to install a pink and purple 28-metre wind turbine in order to make this year’s Glastonbury the greenest yet.

Glastonbury Festival’s ‘biggest fan’ will be in attendance this year, and no, we’re not talking about Lilly Allen or Stormzy.

Thanks to a collaboration with Octopus Energy, a 20-metre wind turbine with 8-metre-long blades will tower over thousands of festival-goers as they party for four days straight.

The wind turbine is just one part of Glastonbury’s ongoing agenda to make the festival more eco-friendly. It will provide clean energy to around 800 food vendors operating on the grounds.

According to Octopus Energy’s Twitter account, the wind turbine was a bit of a last-minute decision. Still, it was successfully built for the festival in just a few weeks.

On June 13th a team of engineers got to work installing it – a job that was completed in a single day. The goal is to demonstrate how quickly and easily onshore renewables can be deployed.

Once the festivities are over, towns across the UK will have the chance to host the Glasto wind turbine in their own communities.

This is part of Octopus Energy’s try-before-you-buy scheme called the ‘Fan Club’, which was launched in 2021. It aims to bring together thousands of small wind generation projects to create a massive source of energy.

Customers signed up for the Fan Club can access green power from small wind turbines dotted around the country. Members get discounted rates on their energy bills.

The price drop can span from 20-50 percent off, depending on how windy the weather is on any given day. Since the initiative began, more than 20,000 people have requested a turbine to be installed in their communities.

Though Glastonbury has boasted environmentally friendly credentials since it began in the 70s, the festival’s organisers continue to seek out new ways to decrease its impact.

First, they encourage all ticketholders to travel to and from the grounds by taking public transport. When the multi-day event is over, hungover and tired festival-goers are told to ‘leave no trace,’ by throwing away all garbage and taking all belongings with them.

At last year’s event, organisers were pleased to see that 99 percent of tents were taken home.

Those who have been to the event will likely be familiar with The Green Fields, which runs on solar, wind, and pedal power. It has also started using compost rather than chemical toilets, implemented a highly-organised recycling process, and banned plastic bottles from being sold at the event.

Considering how easy it was to complete the project with Octopus Energy, let’s hope that more festivals take the initiative to install a wind turbine in the future!

Senior Writer & Media Coordinator London, UK

I’m Jessica (She/Her). Originally from Bermuda, I moved to London to get a Master’s degree in Media & Communications and now write for Thred to spread the word about positive social change, specifically ocean health and marine conservation. You can also find me dipping my toes into other subjects like pop culture, health, wellness, style, and beauty.  Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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