The turbine can generate 1,922MWh per year – enough to meet 27 per cent of the energy the treatment works needs to operate.
Welsh Water head of energy Mike Pedley said: “With an annual energy bill of £43 million, we have been looking at ways to generate electricity on our sites so that we can reduce our carbon footprint and the cost of importing energy.
“We’ve significantly increased the amount of energy we generate on our sites over the past few years by embracing technologies such as solar panels, hydro turbines and gas-to-grid plants to our portfolio of renewable technologies, but the turbine at Swansea is our first wind generation site.
“The energy created by the turbine will not only reduce our carbon footprint, but will also benefit our customers by reducing our overall operating costs so that we can keep bills low.”
Welsh Water has significantly increased the amount of energy it has generated on its sites in recent years, up from 6GWh in 2007/08 to nearly 100GWh in the current year.
VIDEO: installing the wind turbine at Swansea Bay
Source: Welsh Water