Britain’s security services are reportedly taking part in a review of China’s growing role in the UK’s decarbonising energy system amid concerns over Beijing’s influence in strategic national infrastructure.
According to the Financial Times, MI5 is helping establish the extent to which the use of Chinese technology such as solar panels or industrial batteries could pose potential future security threats, according to people close to the situation.
Concern over Chinese companies’ dominance of international supply chains for technologies crucial to decarbonisation is growing as the UK moves away from fossil fuels.
The review into China’s growing role in the energy system is part of the government’s broader “audit” of UK-China relations that will report later this year.
One official, quoted in the FT.com piece, said, “The spooks are looking at it … It’s tied to the industrial strategy, looking at general questions of where we get our things from, and the security risk.”
The UK’s “China audit” is being led by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office with input from other departments.
The issue has come into focus after reports Chinese turbine maker Mingyang is to supply turbines for a planned floating offshore wind project in Scottish waters called Green Volt.
The reports prompted the 560MW joint venture developer partners Flotation Energy and Vargronn to issue a statement saying that no turbine supplier has been confirmed.
Mingyang has said it would open a turbine manufacturing plant in Scotland if it was chosen as the supplier and the Treasury is understood to back the scheme. “[Chancellor] Rachel Reeves came back from her recent trip to China really keen on this project,” said one government figure.
The UK government wants to decarbonise Britain’s power sector by 2030, requiring a huge increase in wind turbines, solar panels and batteries.
In particular, officials are understood to be more concerned about the “primary control systems” used to angle the blades and keep them facing into the wind, according to the FT.com article.
The government said it was undertaking “rigorous processes” to examine the role of China in Britain’s supply chain and investment in critical infrastructure.
Any attempt to significantly cut back Chinese involvement in UK renewables supply chains would be problematic given China’s dominance in the supply of global batteries and solar panels, even if their role in supply wind turbines is relatively small.
“There is a fear that we could be looking at a Huawei moment,” said one government figure, quoted in the FT.com piece, referring to the government’s decision to remove Chinese company Huawei from the UK’s 5G network.
“The renewables market is almost completely dependent on supplies from China.”