Harnessing the winds of change

DECADES after the mine shafts were sealed up and the flames went out at the steel mills, Yorkshire is on the brink of another industrialrevolution. This one looks very different to the soot-blackened splendour of the region's grand economic tradition, however. It will see power harnessed not from the ground, but from the air, and will help put Britain to the global forefront of energy generation.

Wind turbines, once merely the preserve of sky-gazing futurologists, have arrived and they are here to stay. There is still a debate to be had about their cost-effectiveness, and about how they cope in extreme weather of the like seen this winter, but all the main political parties accept they have a role to play in Britain's 21st century

energy mix.

The technology is of particular importance to Yorkshire. The region's undulating landscape and long coastline mean it is perfectly placed to become the world's leading manufacturing base for the 400-foot turbines, potentially creating tens or even hundreds of thousands of jobs.

This was a fact not lost on Gordon Brown when he met Yorkshire Post readers last month, telling them the region was "well placed" to benefit from some of the 400,000 jobs in low carbon industries such as building wind turbines and carbon capture and storage.

It is also why this newspaper 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 everything in their power to bring multi-national firms to the banks of the Humber.

The competition posed by rival sites will be intense and it is up to our region's representatives to win over key decision-makers.

If they are successful and wind turbines begin springing up across Yorkshire, then the region will be transformed physically, economically and culturally. It is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that must not be missed.