TRANSITION TO RENEWABLES ON THE HUMBER ESTUARY
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (IISD)
Generations of families in North Yorkshire have grown up with the culture and expertise of offshore drilling, mining, and fishing in their blood.
When Siemens Gamesa opened a huge wind turbine factory on the old coal dock in Hull in 2016, it heralded a change in fortune for a region that had seen a terminal decline of these extractive industries that had provided for its people since the growth of the fishing and whaling industries industry in the 17th Century.
The renewables industry now employs over 31,000 people locally.
This documentary photography project was commissioned by the IISD, with a focus on the people who are part of this transition, and whose expertise in offshore oil & gas and fishing is invaluable to the offshore wind industry.
The original brief was very broad - an exploration of ‘just transition’ in the UK - how we make the essential and urgent transition from fossil fuels to renewables, and take care of the people affected by that change.
We produced a shortlist of 4 locations on the North Sea, from Aberdeen to Lincolnshire, after a period of extensive research and networking.
We chose the Humber region because of the rich network of people we could access and the many different examples of the benefits of renewables already evident: from the energy companies centred in the old fishing docks in Grimsby, to a brand new centre for innovation, and a farmer who literally bet his farm on a wind turbine…and secured the business for generations to come.
Photography and Multimedia Edit by Jonathan Perugia
