Ford Motor Company | Andy Taylor | electricity | Ford of Europe

The best known of such businesses is probably Ford Motor Company's new dieselengine plant in Dagenham, which is in east London. Ecotricity built two wind turbines there, and they provide enough electricity for the plant to produce 400,000 engines a year. As a result, Ford gets energy for the factory without burning fossil fuels and also enhances its stature in Europe, where companies that show environmental awareness often generate customer goodwill.

Andy Taylor, a business-development director at Ford of Europe, says the company was looking for a highly visible renewableenergy project for the plant and quickly decided that advanced wind turbines would be ideal. Ford considered buying and operating the machines, but they decided to keep their capital investment low by signing an agreement with Ecotricity, which installed the turbines and maintains and operates them for Ford. This setup made the choice easy for Ford, because it minimized the risk, Taylor says.

After three years of operation, Ford executives are pleased with the decision and plan to add a third turbine as the plant expands. Taylor says the company is saving a "substantial" amount of money, because the cost of conventional electricity has increased since the wind turbines came online.

"In the first year, they delivered just over 100 percent of the electricity we were expecting; in the second year, it was just about 90 percent; and this year will be the highest ever, about 110 percent," Taylor says. "So, based on our experience, they've delivered exactly what we were expecting. Of course, that's on an annualized basis. You can't say that about every half hour. But we don't stop the plant when the wind is not blowing; we just draw down from the grid. There has never been a production slowdown."