London 2012 blog

Much of the focus on our plans for the Olympic Park so far have focussed on the main venues we're building for 2012 and beyond, and the new parklands and open areas we're creating to house these new world-class facilities.

But today was my chance to present the latest plans for an important piece of infrastructure that I think will become an iconic part of the Olympic Park in its own right – the Olympic Park wind turbine.

The wind turbine will be located in the north of the Olympic Park – the "Angel of Leyton" as some have been calling it! It will play a key role helping us deliver renewable energy to the Olympic Park, producing around 4 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per every year, the energy equivalent to supplying 1,000 homes over an average year.

We put out the contract to design and build the turbine last month and today we held an Industry Briefing for interested companies to find out more about the project. It was a great chance to meet some of the companies that are looking to compete for the contract to build this important piece of equipment and make their mark on the Olympic Park with a new 'green beacon' for London.

Utilities infrastructure is the essential yet often overlooked equipment that forms the backbone to major developments – the wind turbine is our chance to create a visible example of the renewable energy technology that is helping power the Olympic Park, and striking symbol of our plans for 2012 to be a truly sustainable Games.

Companies have the chance to compete for the wind turbine contract until early April – I look forward to receiving their bids and seeing how the industry rises to the challenge to bring this important infrastructure to life.