Energy security is national security
Britain's energy security can no longer be separated from its national security. Reinforcing Britain’s offshore wind fleet is critical to the UK’s strategic resilience
Britain's energy security debate is evolving. Alongside the familiar trilemma of affordability, sustainability and security a fourth dimension has emerged: resilience in an age of geopolitical confrontation.
From suspected sabotage of subsea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea to cyberattacks on critical energy assets and growing concern over hostile activity in the North Sea, energy systems are no longer merely economic assets. They are critical national infrastructure.
For the UK, the answer is not simply to generate more clean electricity. It is to build an energy system that is more secure, more resilient and rooted in British industrial capability.
That makes offshore wind about much more than clean energy targets and net zero.
As the UK develops one of the world's largest offshore wind sectors, its wind farms and associated infrastructure are becoming increasingly important national assets. Offshore wind farms are vast networks of sensors, communications systems, subsea cables and digital infrastructure operating across strategically significant waters. By their nature they are exposed to attack by hostile nations.
With the right levels of protection, that infrastructure could do more than generate electricity.
ORE Catapult’s soon-to-be-published report, the “Offshore Wind Energy Security, Protection and Resilience study”, demonstrates that the same systems that support offshore wind operations could help strengthen Britain's defence capabilities. Distributed Acoustic Sensing systems with integrated fibre-optic cables could potentially support the detection of unusual vessel movements and threats to critical subsea infrastructure. Offshore substations could provide platforms for monitoring equipment, while operational data and sensor networks could contribute to a better understanding of activity across the air, surface and subsea domains.
The UK's 2025 Strategic Defence Review signals a growing role for the Royal Navy in protecting critical undersea infrastructure and enhancing maritime surveillance. The opportunity now is to ensure offshore wind contributes to that mission. Policymakers must move beyond seeing renewables as solely part of energy and climate policy and recognise them as strategic infrastructure central to national resilience.
Building greater security into offshore wind infrastructure from the outset could create demand for precisely the high-value capabilities Britain needs more of; advanced manufacturing, digital technology, subsea engineering, autonomous systems and skilled technical jobs.
And crucially, these opportunities can generate investment and employment in the industrial towns, coastal communities and regional economies that will power Britain's future economy.
But the benefits need not be confined to coastal areas. The security of offshore wind is a national industrial opportunity, with supply chains, technology companies and research organisations spread across the country. From Plymouth to Aberdeen groundwork is already being established.
The policy implications are clear; embed security-by-design into offshore wind developments; create stronger partnerships between industry, defence, government and regional leaders; and invest in the technologies and skills needed to protect critical national infrastructure. ORE Catapult's work shows what that means in practice: adapting designs, strengthening operational processes, creating new partnerships and fundamentally rethinking the relationship between energy infrastructure and national security.
Energy security is national security, and both can define our future energy system, whilst simultaneously becoming engines of generational regional growth.
