Gusty
Meet Gusty Spinfield, a 28-metre-tall, bright pink wind turbine created by Octopus Energy, to provide a renewable source of energy.
Fresh from a spin at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, Gusty will come to Ally Pally between 6 – 25 July to help power our Summer Season of events, including Kaleidoscope Festival (13 July).
Importantly, Gusty will provide an amazing opportunity to learn more about how we can start to embed green energy solutions into our events.
We want to reduce the impact Alexandra Palace has on the environment and we have an ambitious vision to become a sustainable home for all that we do. Gusty is one of just a number of steps we are taking, as we start on this exciting journey.
FAQs
A 28-metre-tall, bright pink and purple wind turbine created by Octopus Energy, to provide a renewable source of energy. Gusty has previously been used at River Cottage and will come to Alexandra Palace direct from a spin at Glastonbury Festival.
We want Alexandra Palace to be more sustainable. This means exploring green energy solutions, so that we can reduce our impact on the environment, both now and in the long term. Gusty will power one of the bars for our Summer Season of outdoor events, as well as catering units at Kaleidoscope Festival (13 July). In real terms this will only amount to small energy saving, but it is a huge step forward in our approach to energy use for our events, and will provide us valuable insight into one particular green energy source. We also hope that Gusty will raise awareness and prompt discussion around green energy solutions. The Park and Palace has a history of innovation, and our aim to harness this as we seek to become more sustainable.
Gusty will only be in place temporarily, between 6 – 25 July.
Gusty is 28 metres tall, which is smaller than permanent wind turbines.
Gusty won’t be powering the entire outdoor events, but it will be help to provide power to one of our outdoor bars, and catering units at Kaleidoscope Festival. In real terms this will only amount to small energy saving, but it is a huge step forward in our approach to energy use for our events. The bigger picture for us is learning and exploring what renewable energy sources could be used here at the Park and Palace.
We are committed to reducing our impact on the environment and creating a sustainable home for all that we do. We have made progress in recent years: from major infrastructure projects, to smaller but impactful changes, to securing funding, caring for the Park and trialling green technology such as solar panels. However, there is still so much more to do. Our ambition is huge, but we face challenges and many of the answers we need to find are not straightforward. Success will only come about through persistence, collaboration and building on the small wins, as well as bigger and more transformational projects.
This would not be feasible on a large scale, but we are interested in exploring any source of energy that helps us to reduce our impact on the environment. Gusty will be a first step in understanding the potential of wind energy, and of courses the limitations too. Having the turbine here is a huge opportunity for us to learn, as we strive to become a sustainable home for all that we do.
You can see Gusty from a range of vantage points, and people as far away as Canary Wharf will be able to spot it. We will also be running visits for local schools, in partnership with Octopus. It will be part of our Summer Season outdoor event site, so behind our green shield that designates the event site. More information about changes to the Park for the Summer Season is here.
At 20 metres away, on the windiest days Gusty has the same decibel level as a fridge.
We have assessed the impact Gusty will have on the Park and Palace, our neighbours and visitors. Our teams have worked alongside the Octopus team and key partners to plan every stage of Gusty’s journey to and from the Park. Gusty has featured at Glastonbury and River Cottage, so we have utilised the findings from these locations. We will be monitoring the impact on Park, including wildlife, throughout the time the turbine is onsite. We will stop it from operating if we believe it is having a significantly detrimental affect.
We know that some people like wind turbines, and some don’t. Gusty will only be in place temporarily and we are going to learn a huge amount from having it here.
Because Gusty will be in place for less than 28 days, we are not required to seek planning permission or carry out consultation. We are using Gusty to learn and explore longer term opportunities to make the Park and Palace more sustainable. We believe the benefits and learnings we will gain from Gusty’s presence onsite will far outweigh any shorter-term negatives.