The turbines were installed close to Blackpool's Sandcastle water park in an attempt by the council to reduce harmful CO2 releases and harness the energy of the wind on the Promenade.

On Tuesday, lorries arrived in the resort with the two wind turbines and installation began at about 8am.

The moves comes as ever increasing energy prices have led Blackpool Council to explore cost-cutting moves.

Julian Kearsley, executive director of business services, said: "Our initial experience of the two wind turbines at the Solaris Centre has been good so we created this pilot to give us further evidence to consider a wider project.

"It will also give local people a chance to comment on the designs and for us to consider the turbines as part of the new promenade we're creating.

"Blackpool is in a tremendous position to harness the power of the wind. This pilot will enable us to confirm wind speeds, turbine output and the number of turbines required."

Blackpool is piloting two different types of turbine.

The two 15kw three-blade turbines which arrived this week are mounted on 15-metre poles with a 9-metre rotor making them 19.5 metres high.

A helical turbine with S-shaped blades and a height of 14 metres is also due for delivery and installation on May 4.

The total cost of all three turbines is £147,000 and annual savings will amount to £13,250. Each year, the Illuminations use nearly a million kilowatt hours of electricity emitting 420 tonnes of carbon dioxide.