Security advisers from the North Sea nations agreed to work out a pact to jointly protect critical undersea gas pipelines and power cables, telecommunications connections and wind farms.
Several nations attending Monday’s North Sea Summit in Belgium will work on an agreement that will allow the use of drones to monitor key sites, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. The plan is to create a cross-border platform for the exchange of information for security incidents and to allow assistance in the territorial waters of member countries.
Since the Nord Stream attacks in September, NATO members have increased surveillance with satellites, aircraft, ships and submarines for the North Sea and the Baltic. The alliance has yet to publicly identify who carried out the pipeline explosions, but fears have grown that Europe’s underwater infrastructure could be at risk of a covert attack by Russia in retaliation for sanctions related to his invasion of Ukraine.
Norway is now Europe’s largest pipeline gas supplier and disruption is a major concern, but there are signs that power cables and wind farms are also targets. The near-impossible task of protecting miles of underwater infrastructure has come under the spotlight following gas pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea in September.
“Since the start of the war in Ukraine, alertness to potential risks to our critical offshore infrastructure has been greatly increased,” according to the document. “All the nations of the North Sea have understood this reality.”
The threat grows. The UK said last week it had seen attempts by Russian hackers to damage or destroy critical national infrastructure. The Belgian government also reported that last year 30 Russian naval vessels passed through the English Channel and remained in international waters. Among them were a frigate, a destroyer and a submarine.
Nine countries are attending the summit in the Belgian port city of Ostend, but it is unclear how many will sign the pact, which is expected to be held by the end of the year. It will build on a statement agreed by political leaders on Monday to protect assets and increase security around infrastructure. A NATO representative will also attend the meetings.
“The energy sector is increasingly intertwined with geopolitical risks,” Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, said in an interview. “We are seeing that there could be additional work for the authorities.”
green energy
The nine governments pledged to make the North Sea one of the world’s biggest hubs for renewable energy. The nations – which also include Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium – signed a declaration to speed up the construction of “massive scale” offshore wind projects.
The combined target is to install 120 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2030 and 300 gigawatts by 2050.
“In response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and energy blackmail attempts against Europe, we will accelerate our efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption,” the statement said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not attend the event and sent Energy Security Minister Grant Shapps to try to smooth relations with Europe in the wake of Brexit. Shapps is likely to face questions about the climate impact of plans to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field.
|
Objectives of offshore wind
|
|
The countries will work together to build more power cables connecting North Sea offshore wind farms to key parts of the European electricity grid. Other key areas of collaboration will focus on stimulating a market for renewable hydrogen and encouraging carbon capture and storage, where the North Sea is considered to have great potential to store injected carbon dioxide.
The leaders will also meet with executives from key companies involved in the construction and development of the projects. Despite political rhetoric supporting renewable energy, no final investment decisions on offshore wind farms were made last year. Commodity costs, rising interest rates and inflation have made it much riskier to sign large projects.
“We need to massively increase European wind supply chains,” said Sven Utermöhlen, chairman of lobby group WindEurope President and CEO of RWE Offshore Wind. “Taking into account the evolution of inflation to increase the investment security of both manufacturers and developers and therefore allow the lowest cost of financing.”
–With the assistance of Katharina Rosskopf.
