Asda is submitting plans for its first UK wind turbines as part of an ongoing sustainability programme.

The supermarket chain hopes to hand over plans to Falkirk Council, Scotland, by the end of the year in a bid to gain planning permission to erect two turbines on nearby distribution centres in Falkirk and Grangemouth.

An Asda spokeswoman said the retailer would like to put turbines on the roofs of all its 23 distribution centres across the UK, but believed that this was unlikely to be possible.

"We hope to put six turbines up around the country as a pilot project with a view to rolling it out if it's successful, although we doubt we will be able to put them on all centres because of planning issues," she said. "We are still deciding where the other four pilots should go."

She said Asda was looking at the possibility of using turbines to power some of its stores.

"We are spending £12m on the pilot scheme as each turbine costs £2m from planning to finish," the spokeswoman said.

"We're hoping that the Falkirk turbines will be up by the end of next year."

Sainsbury's was the first retailer in the UK to use turbines in 2001 and has them installed on several stores across the UK as well as on its East Kilbride depot.

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