Network Rail has secured 64GWh of clean energy through a Corporate Purchase Power Agreement (CoPPA) to power its offices, depots and managed stations.

The fixed cost deal with EDF over the next 14 years will provide 15 per cent of the electricity needed, and as result of the deal, EDF Renewables will start work on a solar facility at Bloy’s Grove, near Swainsthorpe in Norfolk.

The deal is a key part of the company’s Green Strategy, the railway’s route to a sustainable future. In addition, it is hoped to strike a further CoPPAs to move all of Network Rail’s non-traction (that is, not trains) electrical requirements to solar power in the next few years.

Jeremy Westlake, Network Rail’s chief financial officer, said: “This contract, the first of its kind for the railway, shows how organisations like Network Rail can use their buying power to drive investment in clean power generation for the country.”

Network Rail runs 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

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