Renewable energy will boost the UK’s national security and make the country more resilient against potential aggression or sabotage, the government’s energy minister has said.
Michael Shanks said widely dispersed wind farms and solar panels were much harder to target than large-scale fossil fuel power stations. They are also not vulnerable to supply shocks, such as the current oil crisis caused by the US-Israel war on Iran and the soaring gas prices that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“We are dealing with a far more complex threat landscape than we’ve ever dealt with before. That’s true in the UK, it’s true across Europe,” Shanks said. “Building a decentralised power system with a whole series of assets is less of a risk of physical attack than large-scale power stations. Moving towards clean power is the best way to deliver our energy security in an increasingly uncertain world.”
The Conservatives and Reform UK have pushed for more drilling in the North Sea, rather than renewables. But those arguments received a heavy blow last week when the Guardian revealed that Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency and the world’s leading energy economist, advised against new exploration licences on a commercial basis and said potential new fields already within the licensing system, such as Rosebank and Jackdaw, would make little difference to the UK’s energy security or energy prices.
Military experts have also called for investment in wind farms and solar panels to bolster the UK’s national security against potential aggression or sabotage. Several former military chiefs have written to governments to urge them to pursue renewables. Retired Lt Gen Richard Nugee has previously said investing in renewable energy would make the UK more resilient. “To have a strong military deterrence, we need a resilient homeland. If we want to build a resilient country, low-carbon energy is a very important component,” he said.
Shanks was speaking from Ukraine, where over the weekend he visited energy projects that the UK helped to fund. “It’s a really important visit for me to see firsthand the impact that Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure have had and are having in Ukraine, and meet those who are helping to rebuild that infrastructure and build even greater resilience into the Ukrainian energy system,” he said.
“We can learn a huge amount in the UK from what Ukraine is doing. They are building decarbonised infrastructure across the country because solar and wind and batteries are much harder to target than large scale power stations. They’re doing it at a pace I’d like to be doing it at in the UK as well.”
Cybersecurity is another area Shanks is interested in. “We’re responding to [the increase in threats] with a national plan for how we deal with our energy security,” Shanks said. “We’re also working on how we build resilience at every single part of the energy system, from the grid to individual projects, both cybersecurity and physical security.”
Action has also been taken to secure the UK’s undersea cables to offshore wind farms after suspicions that Russian submarines might have been scouting them or could target the UK’s energy interconnectors to other countries.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work, making sure that our undersea cables are as resilient as possible and are protected from attack,” Shanks said. “We were aware of that move by Russia [and] there’s no doubt that highlights how serious the threat is. We need to redouble our efforts around that. But we do have a very robust plan in place for ensuring their security and working collectively across Europe on this.”
The potential for attacks on atomic power stations has also led to fears that Ukraine’s nuclear reactors could be damaged by Russia. But the UK had a highly secure nuclear estate, Shanks said. “Nuclear is a critical part of how we get off fossil fuels. With the small modular reactors, we will deliver on that. Security is right at the heart of our consideration for nuclear, as it has always been.”
This week, governments from at least 56 countries are meeting in Colombia for the world’s first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. The UK’s climate envoy, Rachel Kyte, is attending. One of the highlights of the conference will be the convening of a scientific panel on how countries can wean themselves off fossil fuels.