BRIGHT sparks at Ipswich Hospital are switching on a new environmentally-friendly generator to revolutionise its electricity supply.

In the first partnership of its kind in the UK, the hospital has teamed up with specialist firm Raygen to install a Bio Fuel electricity generator.

The generator will save the hospital at least 4,100 tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) every year – the equivalent of filling 850 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

In equivalent energy terms, this is enough electricity to supply nearly 4,000 homes for a year and is a 40% reduction in the hospital’s carbon footprint.

Jeff Calver, associate director of estates at the hospital, said: “We are proud to be NHS trailblazers in this hugely significant carbon reduction scheme.

“The benefits stretch far wider than the hospital, out into the community and beyond at a time when reducing our carbon footprint is of international importance.”

Not only will the generator produce the electricity needed to run the 47-acre hospital site, but surplus will be sold by Raygen to the National Grid for local homes, with a percentage of the profit going to the hospital. The hospital will pay a competitive fixed rate for the electricity it uses.

Building work has begun at the north end of the site and the large generator is set to be up and running by October.