Exclusive: The wind of change set to generate a revolution

With preliminary work now getting underway on two of the largest offshore wind farms on the planet just miles from the Yorkshire coast, industry leaders have revealed the region is perfectly placed to become the world's leading manufacturing base for the huge 400-foot turbines – potentially creating tens or even hundreds of thousands of jobs for generations to come.

Regional planners have already stated that the still-fledgling offshore wind industry has the potential to revive Yorkshire's manufacturing past, boosting hundreds of local firms along the supply chain while creating a highly-skilled service industry maintaining the thousands of turbines positioned out in the North Sea.

But industry experts today go further, envisaging a future where the region builds and exports vast turbines to hundreds more sites around the globe over the coming decades.

Such a glittering prize is far from guaranteed, however. Yorkshire faces stiff competition to become the hub of this major new industry from rival sites positioned further up the North East coastline, at ports along the River Tyne.

The Yorkshire Post today launches its Powering Our Future campaign to bring turbine production to Yorkshire, calling on the Government, local and regional planners and private enterprise to do all they can to encourage leading multinational firms to base themselves on the banks of the Humber.

The stakes could hardly be higher. Britain's unique geographical location means it has the greatest potential for offshore wind power in the world, with the majority of it located off the North Sea coast.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Eddie O'Connor, a power industry veteran heading up the consortium which will build a huge 800-turbine wind farm off the coast of Hornsea over the next 10 years.

"We are looking at a whole new creation of industrial wealth in Britain, the likes of which it has not seen since the industrial revolution.

"The Government said it expects 70,000 new jobs to be created, and they will largely be in this area and from this industry by 2020. I agree with the Government on this – but I think we could be looking at between 10 and 20 times that number by 2030 and 2040.

"This is the start of what will go on to be an enormous venture for this country, which I believe will see Britain supply Europe with the biggest provision of its energy.

"If we put together the companies that are going to exploit this opportunity, we're looking at not only you being employed, but your children being employed, and on to the nth generation."

While estimates over job creation vary wildly, even the most conservative estimates suggest up to 10,000 jobs could be created by the establishment of a major turbine factory in Yorkshire when supply chain opportunities are taken into account.

See Saturday's Yorkshire Post for a special two-page report on the developments on the east coast