Gone with the wind: why UK firms could miss out on the offshore boom

British manufacturers and the GMB are urging the government to ensure the huge investment in the sector benefits Britain too

At the foot of the disused Fawley power station on the Hampshire coast, giant wind turbine blades lie on the sand like the fins of some strange beached sea mammal. The site of what was once one of the UK's most polluting power plants is now a waiting area for turbine blades, before they join the growing number of windfarms off the British coast.

More than 1,000 of these precision-designed aerodynamic structures, each about 80 metres long, have been shipped across the water from a factory on the Isle of Wight. Owned by Danish energy giant MHI Vestas, it employs almost 700 people on the island and usually produces seven blades a week.