Britain Has Huge Clean Energy Ambitions, but Are They Realistic?

There may be no better place to see evidence of Britain’s shift to cleaner energy than a sleek industrial complex on the Humber estuary outside Hull, a faded port city.

On a July morning, workers in a brightly lit building were preparing molds for fiberglass wind turbine blades longer than football fields. Outside on the docks, squat six-wheeled vehicles gingerly maneuvered a blade weighing 50 metric tons for loading onto a ship that would take it to Scotland for installation.

The factory, which is operated by Siemens Gamesa, a unit of the German company Siemens Energy, began producing the massive blades in 2016. It has since expanded to accommodate larger models.

The factory is a case study for how the new British government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party delivered a decisive election victory last week, hopes to use investment in clean energy to bolster stagnant economic growth.

Andy Sykes, the manager of the factory, said that 500 million pounds, or about $630 million, had already been invested in the plant, which employs 1,300 people in an area that has struggled economically for decades. Another round of expansion is in the works.

The plant also serves as an anchor for green efforts in the region, one of Britain’s major industrial areas, which is dominated by oil refineries and other polluters.