Europe's wind power goal hits new snag: security

FE Team | Published: October 29, 2023 21:24:16

NYSTED WIND FARM, Denmark, Oct 29 (Reuters): As Europe turns to renewable sources to diversify energy supplies away from Russian oil and gas, a peaceful marine scene conceals a billion-dollar security headache.
Rising above the Baltic Sea less than 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Denmark, 161 wind turbines spin slowly. They supply around 4 per cent of the country's power, sent to shore through two cable connections.
The turbines have no barriers or surveillance.
"Our technicians are only here until five o'clock in the afternoon, then they go home," said Thomas Almegaard, head of operations at Nysted wind farm, co-owned and operated by Denmark-based Orsted, the world's biggest offshore wind developer.
"If the Russians wanted to cause damage, they could do it easily," he told Reuters aboard a service vessel as it sailed through the wind farm.
"We don't do any monitoring."
The picture is similar across the North and Baltic Seas, Reuters found in a survey of 13 governments and interviews with a dozen lawmakers, regulators, military and industry officials. European states and companies are only now starting to monitor and secure their windfarms, the reporting showed.
Developers like Orsted think governments should take the lead and help provide the billions of dollars needed to protect their infrastructure. But even as North Sea countries alone plan to install enough wind power for more than 100 million homes by 2030, governments are still considering how much they can spend to safeguard such offshore assets.
Time is short: The EU has a legally binding goal to nearly double renewable sources as a share of total energy by 2030, to 42.5 per cent, requiring a rapid expansion of offshore wind.
The risk was underlined last year with attacks by unidentified saboteurs on the Nord Stream pipeline. Again this month, Finland and Sweden said a subsea gas pipeline and telecommunications cables had been damaged, including a link between NATO members Finland and Estonia. Finland said its review of vessels in the area at the time found a Russian and a Chinese ship among them.
President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the idea Russia was involved as "rubbish;" the Chinese shipowner, NewNew Shipping, declined to comment.
The Netherlands and Denmark have both accused Russian ships of attempting to map what Sweden's Prime Minister has called a "spaghetti" of critical infrastructure in their waters.
But of the governments surveyed, only Britain and Poland said they had invested or budgeted for steps to improve the security of offshore infrastructure. The others declined to answer questions on budgetary commitments or said they were now looking into further funding.
When it comes to who should pay for such measures, most governments said the buck stops with the developers.
Britain, which has spent 65 million pounds ($79 million) adapting two vessels for underwater surveillance and seabed warfare, said its government was responsible for security policy and works with industry to implement protection measures.
Seven other countries said the job of securing energy assets falls mainly to industry, although the naval forces play a role.
Officials at two large wind energy firms and at two defence companies told Reuters only a few wind farms have installed radars to monitor traffic. Otherwise, they said, no security equipment is installed today - because there are no requirements to do so and because of the cost.
"I think it's extremely important to say that protection of assets within territorial waters is a state matter and not (that of) a developer," Orsted CEO Mads Nipper told Reuters in April.
Orsted has 12 operating wind farms in the UK, five in Denmark, four in Germany, and one in the Netherlands.
Soaring inflation and interest rates, increased seabed leasing fees and volatile energy markets have all come together to squeeze European wind developers in the last two years.