Renewables add £1.5bn to Humber region says new report
The Net Zero economy grew by ten per cent - nationally it was 1 per cent in 2024
The Humber region's renewables sector is booming according to a new report by the energy and climate intelligence unit.
As well as creating £1.5bn for the local economy, jobs in the sector proved twice as productive.
Offshore wind is the central driver of the growth, with Siemens Gamesa installing over 2GW of capacity (powering around 1.5 million homes annually) off the coast of Grimsby.
Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn told us:
It's really about the scale of the opportunity and recognising we have great success in the UK.
"Coastal communities - most of them would say - we've struggled a little bit."
"Industries we used to rely on are diminishing so this is a real opportunity for those communities to benefit from exciting new industries."
"It's really about the scale of the opportunity and recognising we have great success in the UK."
"If we want to decarbonise our energy system there are opportunities and that means job creation and wealth creation for communities like Grimsby and Cleethorpes."
"If we can get the supply chain - if we can get those factories built that have key component parts those are tangible - meaningful jobs that are very accessible and will do a huge amount to transform the sense of accessible opportunity for our young people."
It's places like this that are driving that productivity forward
The event at Docks Beers brought together businesses from across the region to discuss the future of renewables.
"What we're seeing here is massive growth in productivity," said Peter Chalkley, Director of the ECIU.
"So the jobs in the net zero economy are adding a disproportionate amount to the local economy."
"We know we've got a growth problem in this country, we've got stagnation, people feel that in their pockets everyday.
"But it's places like this that are driving that productivity forward, helping us all to be a little bit better off.
"We seeing in several of the colleges here, great training programmes to enable young people to come through and build jobs not just for the next few years, but potentially a lifetime."