During a visit to Islington Council’s pioneering Bunhill Energy Centre – an energy plant that uses waste heat to keep council homes and local businesses warm and provided with electricity – Labour’s candidate to be the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan MP, announced his plans for a clean energy revolution in London. 

Sadiq Khan unveils plan for London clean energy revolution

Speaking on a visit to the Islington Bunhill Energy Centre, Sadiq Khan announced ‘Energy for Londoners’, a not-for-profit company that will take a lead on clean and green energy across the city. 

He used the launch to pledge to be the ‘greenest Mayor London has ever had’. 

He made the announcement on a visit to the construction of Phase 2 of the Bunhill Energy Centre in Islington, a district heating scheme, which will draw heat from the Tube to warm over 1000 homes. 

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, said: “I want to be the greenest Mayor London has ever had. I want my daughters to grow up in a city that is cleaner and greener, in which people aren’t dying because the air is so filthy. But I also want London to be at the cutting edge of new green technologies, generating the growth and jobs of the future.  

“Energy for Londoners will bring a renewed focus to our drive to make London a cleaner, greener city.
 
“It will expand the use of solar across the city, and support communities who want to set up their own green energy generation schemes. And it will roll out schemes like the Bunhill Energy Centre that take waste heat from the tube and make the most of buildings across the city to generate energy from solar.
 
“All of this will help London reduce its carbon emissions and generate more of its own energy in a much cleaner way.”

Sadiq was joined by Islington South & Finsbury MP, Emily Thornberry, Islington Labour councillors Claudia Webbe and Paul Smith, and Assembly Member Murad Qureshi.  

The visit came in the same week that Islington Council announced the installation of 1,800 solar panels on three council buildings that will help generate electricity to those buildings, with excess being sold back into the National Grid. 

Commenting on the solar panels, Cllr Claudia Webbe, Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: “These solar panels are a win-win for the council and residents.

“Not only will they significantly reduce the council’s carbon footprint and electricity bills, they will also generate much-needed income, helping to reduce the pressure on the council’s budget in the long term and help protect us against fluctuating electricity prices.”