Almost 70 students from high schools in Lowestoft and Beccles were able to explore clean energy skills at an event powered by a Norfolk wind developer.

The GCSE students from Benjamin Britten Academy in Lowestoft and Sir John Leman High School in Beccles joined in with hands-on activities and learnt more about future careers with offshore wind developer Vattenfall.

They explored green jobs in the fast-growing offshore renewable energy industry at a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) event in East Coast College’s £11.7 Energy Skills Centre in Lowestoft.

The Year 10 and Year 11 students discovered what it feels like to climb more than 100m to the top of an offshore turbine and travel offshore by vessel with the help of a virtual reality headset as the event was delivered by Vattenfall.

With Vattenfall STEM ambassador and recent geography graduate Will Sealey, in his first full-time role with Vattenfall as its community liaison officer for the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone 45 miles off the Norfolk coast, led the session and showcased the types of roles needed to grow the offshore wind workforce to 100,000 by 2030.

University of East Anglia, Norwich, graduate Will, who is 22 and completing a masters degree in Climate Change and Environmental Science supported by Vattenfall, said: “It is great to be able to guide students and answer their questions on the industry and also show them what employers like Vattenfall have to offer.

"Our aim is to build a workforce for a climate smarter future."

Adam Lowe, director of STEM at Benjamin Britten Academy, said: “All of the pupils with us are really interested in engineering.

“The workshops are a real opportunity for pupils to get their teeth into practical tasks.

"The Vattenfall virtual reality headset where students got to experience what it’s like to go out on a vessel and up a turbine has been a big hit.”

Rachel Bunn, director for commercial and community at East Coast College, said: “We are planning more events like this for throughout the year.

"We chose renewables as our focus for this STEM day as our Energy Centre is two years old.

"We are really focusing on renewables as there is so much going on in the region – the potential here is huge."