Slow-moving traffic to generate electricity

Supermarket experiment in Northampton

Slow-moving traffic will be used to generate electricity for a UK supermarket chain during a trial in Northampton.

Lorries will drive over metal plates set into the road just outside a Sainsbury's depot.

Pressure from the vehicles triggers a series of pumps which are linked to an electricity generator.

The system should create enough power to light 10,000 light bulbs per year, the supermarket chain said.

It will be trialled at the depot in Northampton from September following its launch in the US.

Sainsbury's said the system will generate two per cent of the depot's total annual electricity needs, based on the number of lorries expected to drive over the road plates.

The firm's supply chain director Roger Burnley said: "This is one of several sustainable measures being implemented at our Northampton depot, which leads the way in reducing energy emissions and waste."

The system is used in areas where vehicles move at slow speeds. This will be the first time it has been used in Europe.