Wind power – The security detail

In March, Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer announced his party would create state-owned floating wind farms should it enter government as part of a £8.3 billion package. Crucially, while framing the policy in terms of wider net zero commitments, Starmer also warned "in an increasingly insecure world, with tyrants using energy as an economic weapon, Britain must take back control of our national energy security".

It has become an increasingly familiar theme. Since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government has made wind power a cornerstone of its energy security strategy, declaring in 2022 ambitions to make the UK the "Saudi Arabia of wind power". To this end, the government has set an energy security target of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.

The European Union has similarly placed wind power at the centre of its push towards energy resilience, with the REPowerEU drive resulting in more energy being produced via wind and solar than gas for the first time across the bloc.

This shift from Russian gas towards home-grown renewables has been largely welcomed. But amid the European wind market's economic challenges, there are fears one dependency has been exchanged for another as the push to lower costs leads to China, which dominates wind farm component manufacture.

"The UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is conducting a report on this in relation to reliance on China for supply chain," says Paul Butcher, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) director of public policy. "The common theme about these areas of dominance for China is it's almost all energy transition related."

Meanwhile, in April, the EU announced it will investigate subsidies received by Chinese suppliers of turbines destined for Europe with a view to protecting domestic firms from cheap green energy. Chinese kit used in developments across Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria will all be placed under scrutiny.

The EU has also ushered in investment screening to ensure economic security. "We're not seeing Chinese companies directly invest in producing assets anymore in Europe," says Paris-based HSF partner Rebecca Major. "When they start buying things they get stuck in the foreign direct investment restrictions where they need consent from governments to invest as energy is seen as a strategic asset."

Meanwhile, the largest energy security play has been in the US, where the Inflation Reduction Act provides generous tax credits for companies producing clean energy technologies domestically.

"We will see continued protectionism," forecasts Rob Booth, former Head of Assets & Operations at The Crown Estate. "Energy security is really important to get right and also massively in the spotlight. With offshore wind now being at an industrial scale, bringing resilience to operation and supporting supply chains is vital."