Renewable energy will boost national security and protect UK from sabotage, minister says | Renewable energy

The government’s energy minister said renewable energy would boost Britain’s national security and make the country more resilient to potential attack or sabotage.

Michael Shanks said targeting wind farms and solar panels spread over a wide area is much more difficult than targeting large-scale fossil fuel power plants. They are also not vulnerable to supply shocks, such as the current oil crisis caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran and rising gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“We face a much more complex threat landscape than we’ve ever faced before. That’s true in the UK, it’s true across Europe,” Shanks said. “Building a decentralized energy system with a set of assets poses less risk of physical attack than large-scale power plants. Moving towards clean energy is the best way to ensure 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 these claims suffered a blow last week when the Guardian reported that Fatih Birol, director general of the International Energy Agency and the world’s leading energy economist, had advised against new exploration licenses on a commercial basis and said potential new fields such as Rosebank and Jackdaw, which are already within the licensing system, 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 Britain’s national security against potential aggression or sabotage. Several former military chiefs have written to governments to encourage them to turn to renewable energy sources. Retired Lieutenant General Richard Nugee has previously said investing in renewable energy would make Britain more resilient. “To have a strong military deterrent, 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 at the weekend, where he visited energy projects the UK is helping to finance. “It is a really important visit for me to see first-hand the impact that Russia’s attacks on energy infrastructure have had and are having in Ukraine, and to meet those who are helping to rebuild this infrastructure and make the Ukrainian energy system even more resilient,” he said.

“We can learn a lot from what Ukraine is doing in the UK. They’re building decarbonised infrastructure across the country because solar, wind and batteries are much harder to target than large-scale power plants. They’re doing it at a pace that I’d like to do in the UK as well.”

Cybersecurity is another area Shanks is interested in. [the increase in threats] “With a national plan for how we’re going to deal with our energy security,” Shanks said, “We’re also working on how to build resilience in every part of the energy system, from the grid to individual projects, both in terms of cybersecurity and physical security.”

Action has also been taken to secure undersea cables to the UK’s offshore wind farms, following suspicions that Russian submarines may be spying on them or targeting the UK’s energy interconnectors to other countries.

“We work hard to ensure our subsea cables are as resilient as possible and protected against attack,” Shanks said. “We were aware of this move by Russia” [and] This undoubtedly highlights how serious the threat is. We need to double our efforts in this regard. But we have a very solid plan to ensure their safety and to work together across Europe on this issue.”

The potential for attacks on atomic power plants has also raised fears that Ukraine’s nuclear reactors could be damaged by Russia. However, Shanks said Britain has an extremely safe nuclear zone. “Nuclear is a critical part of our transition away from fossil fuels. We will achieve this with small modular reactors. Safety, as always, is at the heart of our consideration of nuclear.”

This week, governments of at least 56 countries are meeting in Colombia for the world’s first conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels. UK climate ambassador Rachel Kyte agrees. One of the highlights of the conference will be the organization of a scientific panel on how countries can get rid of fossil fuels.