Offshore Wind Vulnerabilities
Resilience redefined?
Posted on 08 Apr 25
by John RidgwayIn Uncategorized
When Oliver Dowden announced the release of the 2023 edition of the UK’s National Risk Register, he chose to do so whilst visiting Hartlepool to promote the construction of a massive offshore windfarm on Dogger Bank. I remember it well, because I reported it at the time. And I remember Dowden saying, “The first duty of government is to keep people safe”, before adding that the risk register, “is giving more information than ever before about the risks facing this country, whether it’s from cyber, whether it’s from energy resilience, which is why I am here today, where we are building the world’s largest offshore wind factory facility.” And I remember thinking, how will placing the nation’s energy generation infrastructure out in the middle of the sea, connected to our shores using a highly vulnerable network of communications and energy transmission cables, ensure our energy resilience?
Fast forward to a new government, and we see Ed Miliband launching GB Energy whilst heralding his new era of resilience, one that will “get Putin’s boot off the UK’s throat”. The argument is that in times of increased tension, during which Russia could halt supply of its gas, the UK, with its renewables, would be economically immune to the fallout. This equates to energy resilience. Why? ‘Cos there ain’t nothing that Vlad can do that can impact the energy resilience of a country so heavily dependent upon unguarded wind turbines scattered across the North Sea.
This small insight into the trademark madness that substitutes for Ed and Oliver’s cognitive powers is well worth expanding upon. So let me take just a few moments of your day to reflect upon what Vlad can do — and what he actually is doing — with his size ten boots firmly pressing upon the UK’s beautifully exposed throat.
https://cliscep.com/2025/04/08/offshore-wind-vulnerabilities/
