Severn Trent Water’s new wind turbines, Winnie and Tony at Derby, yesterday started turning intermittently, as the world’s first 3D holographic radar system is brought into operation to support them.

The water company’s renewable energy expert, Martin Dent, explained:

“Working closely with radar specialists, Aveillant, and East Midlands Airport, we have installed the 3D holographic radar system this morning. So over the next seven days, Derby residents will see Winnie and Tony the turbines turning between the hours of 9am and 5pm as we test and monitor the new radar system.”

“We still have a long way to go to make sure the system does everything that we need, but we’re excited that the new technology is in place and it can observe the wind turbines from a distance, and provide the airport with unrestricted views of the skies above the wind turbines and the city of Derby.”

The ground breaking work and investment in the new technology, is supporting Severn Trent’s drive to make sure it complies with the civil aviation authorities regulations, and get Winnie and Tony operating without restriction, for the longer term.

Severn Trent also has a further two wind turbines which are already generating power at Wanlip near Leicester and Newthorpe near Nottingham. Over the last year, together they have generated around 8 million kilowatt hours of electricity - equivalent to powering more than 2,000 homes for an entire year.