The Prague Post - Wind powers change in England's industrial heartland

EUR -
AED 4.291877
AFN 80.86012
ALL 97.598394
AMD 448.394165
ANG 2.091145
AOA 1071.500118
ARS 1470.822999
AUD 1.78063
AWG 2.103271
AZN 1.973932
BAM 1.949775
BBD 2.360804
BDT 142.180622
BGN 1.951359
BHD 0.440471
BIF 3483.73429
BMD 1.168484
BND 1.495279
BOB 8.108941
BRL 6.480646
BSD 1.169187
BTN 100.127578
BWP 15.579854
BYN 3.826375
BYR 22902.287545
BZD 2.348642
CAD 1.598924
CDF 3372.244724
CHF 0.931515
CLF 0.028918
CLP 1109.685633
CNY 8.390007
CNH 8.391135
COP 4701.500773
CRC 589.677731
CUC 1.168484
CUP 30.964828
CVE 109.9253
CZK 24.640989
DJF 208.206584
DKK 7.46132
DOP 70.272837
DZD 151.643807
EGP 57.887753
ERN 17.527261
ETB 161.734695
FJD 2.623483
FKP 0.860195
GBP 0.861751
GEL 3.16645
GGP 0.860195
GHS 12.189332
GIP 0.860195
GMD 83.538408
GNF 10145.647121
GTQ 8.982242
GYD 244.624043
HKD 9.172577
HNL 30.586479
HRK 7.538474
HTG 153.405933
HUF 398.681499
IDR 18979.569712
ILS 3.87318
IMP 0.860195
INR 100.188335
IQD 1531.666723
IRR 49222.390939
ISK 142.800154
JEP 0.860195
JMD 186.852573
JOD 0.828496
JPY 171.093525
KES 151.423705
KGS 102.183881
KHR 4689.508112
KMF 491.931282
KPW 1051.623909
KRW 1604.98325
KWD 0.357334
KYD 0.974389
KZT 606.565543
LAK 25192.149234
LBP 104762.4548
LKR 351.234587
LRD 234.42556
LSL 20.738413
LTL 3.450229
LVL 0.706805
LYD 6.31648
MAD 10.511018
MDL 19.782865
MGA 5164.041671
MKD 61.564202
MMK 2453.292929
MNT 4191.124617
MOP 9.454084
MRU 46.453446
MUR 52.756881
MVR 17.995182
MWK 2027.434662
MXN 21.812291
MYR 4.963133
MZN 74.736756
NAD 20.738413
NGN 1786.600268
NIO 43.027034
NOK 11.79549
NPR 160.203925
NZD 1.944362
OMR 0.449308
PAB 1.169187
PEN 4.143097
PGK 4.906837
PHP 66.076602
PKR 332.644336
PLN 4.252697
PYG 9061.995906
QAR 4.263126
RON 5.081276
RSD 117.131165
RUB 91.039736
RWF 1689.479039
SAR 4.382259
SBD 9.741563
SCR 16.489668
SDG 701.672719
SEK 11.14562
SGD 1.496378
SHP 0.918245
SLE 26.285753
SLL 24502.530745
SOS 668.234968
SRD 43.663936
STD 24185.260849
SVC 10.230385
SYP 15192.548431
SZL 20.743896
THB 38.165045
TJS 11.312242
TMT 4.101379
TND 3.411757
TOP 2.736701
TRY 46.813579
TTD 7.939465
TWD 34.176172
TZS 3073.113303
UAH 48.936672
UGX 4190.051572
USD 1.168484
UYU 47.503202
UZS 14794.281544
VES 132.747147
VND 30514.376943
VUV 139.568249
WST 3.21449
XAF 653.936155
XAG 0.031816
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.157887
XDR 0.81258
XOF 653.936155
XPF 119.331742
YER 282.597698
ZAR 20.729363
ZMK 10517.750801
ZMW 27.389359
ZWL 376.25139
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Wind powers change in England's industrial heartland
Wind powers change in England's industrial heartland

Wind powers change in England's industrial heartland

On the banks of the River Humber in northern England, the winds of change are blowing through Hull, where factory workers busily craft turbine blades in a green revolution.

Text size:

Hull, known for a once-thriving fishing industry, the poet Philip Larkin, rugby league, and the city's eponymous football club recently bought by Turkish TV personality Acun Ilicali, is home to Britain's biggest wind turbine blade plant.

That has placed Hull at the centre of the UK government's long-term plan to slash carbon emissions, tackle climate change and cut rocketing household energy bills.

German-Spanish giant Siemens Gamesa is rapidly expanding its facility to meet booming demand and keep the country's much-trumpeted 2050 net-zero target on track.

The need for cheaper sources of energy became increasingly urgent this week, as the government scrambled to head off a cost of living crisis, faced with runaway electricity and gas costs that are fuelling decades-high inflation.

Britain unveiled financial support for households after the UK energy regulator lifted prices to reflect the spiking natural gas market.

- 'Cheaper and cleaner' -

"We are doing our bit to tidy the world up and get cheaper and cleaner energy for everybody," blade painter Carl Jackson, 56, told AFP from the factory floor.

"I think wind power is a big part of the future. It's been a massive boost to jobs and the economy in Hull," added Jackson, who joined when Siemens Gamesa opened six years ago.

The hub has since manufactured 1,500 hand-made turbine blades and now employs more than 1,000 people.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, host of last November's UN climate change summit in Glasgow, has vowed to "level up" economic opportunity in places like Hull, which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit.

Siemens Gamesa built the £310-million plant jointly with Associated British Ports in 2016, and it is now undergoing a major extension to build bigger blades.

The Hull factory manufactures about 300 turbine blades per year, with each measuring 81 metres in length -- about the same as the wingspan of an Airbus A380 aircraft.

A wind turbine, comprising three such blades, can power an average house for 24 hours with one single rotation.

New, even longer 100-metre blades will provide enough power for up to two days.

- 'Driving down energy costs' -

In the cavernous Hull factory, staff assemble balsa wood, fibreglass and resin into vast blade moulds to start a journey that will eventually harness the ferocious winds of the North Sea.

That enables Britain to cut carbon emissions while curbing its dependency on imported energy and lowering prices in the long term, said plant director Andy Sykes.

"Over the course of last year, 25 percent of the UK's (electricity) was delivered from wind power," said Sykes.

"That will only continue to grow and help drive down the cost of energy by reducing the need for the import of energy."

The group will open another factory in Le Havre, northern France, this year in a push for cleaner energy across Europe, where wind generated an average 16 percent of electricity according to 2020 industry data.

Scotland recently awarded a string of vast offshore wind projects after Johnson vowed to make Britain the "Saudi Arabia of wind".

Hull is also expanding into the broader renewable sector, with plans for biofuels, green hydrogen, and carbon capture, as well as solar and tidal power generation under the city's "Green Port" initiative.

The local authority is eager to slash carbon output from the Humber estuary region, which accounts for 40 percent of Britain's industrial emissions -- particularly from the cement, gas, oil, petrochemicals and steel sectors.

"You really have to decarbonise the Humber area for the UK to be really able to address significant parts of its net zero challenge," Hull City Council climate officer Martin Budd told AFP.

"And this Siemens offshore wind plant provides a key activator to achieve that."

The Humber estuary's high seabed makes it ideal for offshore turbines.

At the same time, the estuary expels an estimated 12.3 million tonnes of carbon per year.

- Ensuring survival -

Budd said tackling climate change was vital to saving low-lying Hull from flooding.

"We are the second most vulnerable UK city after London to flooding. So the survival of the city depends on tackling climate change," he added.

"It's integral that we tackle climate change and that as a city we take those steps by supporting manufacturing in industries that are going to tackle climate change."

The UK wants offshore wind farms to provide one-third of the country's electricity by 2030.

Climate change specialist Nick Cowern, an emeritus professor at Newcastle University, cautioned that Britain also needed to develop chemical storage capability.

"It's realistic to put wind power at the centre of the UK's low carbon electricity generation approach, which is a major part of the effort towards net zero," he told AFP.

He added that while wind and solar were safe long-term bets, gas still had a significant role to play.

"Until we have the ability to store electricity as hydrogen -- or alternatives like ammonia -- and be better grid-connected to our neighbours in continental Europe and the Nordic countries, gas will still be needed during periods of low wind speeds and low solar generation."

I.Mala--TPP