GREEN energy experts claim the North Sea could become the "Saudi Arabia of wind power".
East Yorkshire is in a prime position to capitalise on a number of huge wind farms proposed off the coast.
Last week, Siemens announced plans to build an �80-million turbine factory at Alexandra Dock, Hull, that will create 900 jobs immediately, with thousands more likely to be generated across the region.
Peter Madigan, head of offshore renewables at the RenewableUK, the industry's trade association, said: "We have long been saying that the North Sea will become the Saudi Arabia of wind energy. Just as 30 years ago, the North Sea could be our ticket for economic growth."
Three sites off the east coast have been earmarked for large wind farm projects by the Crown Estate, which owns the rights to British waters.
The size of each of the three zones at Dogger Bank, Hornsea and Norfolk is huge.
The giant wind farms are expected to be built in the Dogger Bank zone from 2015 onwards.
Thousands of miles of cable will have to be laid to bring the power onshore for connection to the National Grid.
Proposals to link one of the offshore wind farms in the Dogger Bank zone to an existing sub-station near Cottingham are out for public consultation.
Nick Medic, of the British Wind Energy Association, said: "In the next ten years Britain will have to build about 50 times more offshore than it has so far to meet its 2020 target.
"People have no idea how big this project is. It will be colossal and as transformative as the building of our rail systems."
Energy specialist Andrew Reid, of consultants Douglas Westwood, said the scale of the North Sea wind farm development was going to be huge.
He said: "These are certainly going to be among the largest construction projects ever undertaken."
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