The Great North 2040
Connected Energy
The North does not need to invent a sustainability story. It is already building one — in gigawatts, in steel, and in jobs.
Powered by the Transition
The North of England sits at the centre of the UK's clean energy transition. This is not aspiration. Offshore wind farms are operational. Grid reinforcements are under construction. Industrial decarbonisation projects have development consent. A Northern Games would be powered by this system — not by marketing claims.
The Numbers Are Real
Offshore Wind
Gigawatt-Scale, Already Here
The North Sea, off the coast of Northern England, hosts some of Europe's largest offshore wind projects. These are not proposals. They are operational or under construction.
Dogger Bank Wind Farm
Three phases totalling 3.6 GW, off the North East coast. Operations and maintenance based at the Port of Tyne, creating over 400 long-term local jobs. One of the world's largest offshore wind projects.
Hornsea 1 & 2
Hornsea 1 (1.2 GW) has been operational since 2019. Hornsea 2 (1.32 GW) since August 2022. Both maintained from Grimsby with a workforce of over 600.
Hornsea 3
Under construction off the Yorkshire coast. Expected completion 2027. The North is not finished building — this pipeline extends well beyond 2030.
Sofia Offshore Wind Farm
Under construction with a grid connection at Lackenby, Teesside. A direct link between North Sea wind and the North East's industrial heartland.
Industrial Transition
Where Transition Becomes Industry
The North East and Yorkshire are not just generating clean power. They are manufacturing the components, building the supply chains, and creating the jobs that make the energy transition physical.
Net Zero Teesside
Gas power with carbon capture at up to 2 Mt CO₂ per year. Development consent granted February 2024. Subject to final investment decisions — but the consent signals serious intent.
H2Teesside
Targeting 1.2 GW of hydrogen production by 2030, linked to the Northern Endurance Partnership for CO₂ transport and storage. An industrial-scale decarbonisation pathway.
Green Hydrogen — Teesside
Teesside is targeting 500 MW of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030, anchoring the UK's largest hydrogen hub and feeding directly into the industrial cluster's decarbonisation pathway.
Project Union — Hydrogen Pipeline
National Gas Transmission's £164 million Project Union will repurpose existing pipelines into a hydrogen backbone connecting industrial clusters across the North — a physical network for the hydrogen economy.
SeAH Wind Monopile Factory
A 90-acre monopile facility at Teesworks — described as the single largest of its kind globally. Offshore wind foundations, made in the North East.
Siemens Gamesa, Hull
Over 1,500 offshore wind turbine blades produced since 2016, with a £186 million expansion. The UK's offshore wind manufacturing footprint, rooted in Yorkshire.
Grid Reality
A Grid That Is Already Changing
The UK electricity system is measurably decarbonising. The last coal plant closed in September 2024. Renewables supplied over half of all generation in Q3 2025. And the grid infrastructure connecting clean power to the North is being actively reinforced.
Eastern Green Link 1
A 2 GW subsea HVDC cable from Torness, Scotland to Hawthorn Pit, County Durham. Construction started March 2025, with operations aimed for 2029. A direct, regulated electricity superhighway into the North East — part of Ofgem's fast-tracked ASTI programme of 26 major transmission projects.
How We Talk About "Powering the Games"
We will not claim that specific wind farms directly power specific venues. That is not how the electricity grid works.
Venues will draw electricity from the national grid — a shared system with increasingly low-carbon generation. Event electricity use can be matched through contracted renewable procurement: power purchase agreements and recognised certificates (such as REGOs), not by tracing individual electrons from named turbines.
The honest claim is this: by 2040, the grid will be substantially decarbonised. The North is where much of that decarbonisation is physically landing — in wind farms, grid links, ports, and manufacturing. A Northern Games accelerates and showcases a transition that is already real.
The North East Is Indispensable
Remove the North East from this story and you lose the heart of the UK's energy transition. The region is not a peripheral beneficiary — it is where the transition physically happens.
North East Energy Assets
- Port of Tyne — Dogger Bank's operations and maintenance base. Over 400 long-term local jobs. Built to UKGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework standards.
- Net Zero Teesside — 860 MW gas power with carbon capture. Development consent granted. Up to 2 Mt CO₂/year captured.
- H2Teesside — Targeting 1.2 GW hydrogen production. Linked to offshore CO₂ storage via the Northern Endurance Partnership.
- SeAH Wind, Teesworks — 90-acre monopile factory. Up to 750 jobs. Offshore wind foundations manufactured here, exported worldwide.
- Eastern Green Link 1 — 2 GW subsea link landing at Hawthorn Pit, County Durham. The grid superhighway comes directly to the North East.
- Sofia Wind Farm — 1.4 GW, grid-connected at Lackenby, Teesside. North Sea power, Teesside connection.
The energy transition is not a promise. It is a programme.
A Northern Games does not need to invent green credentials. It needs to accelerate what is already happening — and show the world what a region-scale energy transition looks like.