University facilities are being put to good use

IWAS pleased to see the opening of the new wind turbine cyber security unit at the University of Plymouth.

- Paul Whiteley

Inmy mind, too little thought has been given regarding the security of our energy supplies. Cyber attacks are the new thing but it's important that we don’t forget the old ways of physical attack.

We have seen in the Ukraine a new type of warfare develop, using drones, glide bombs and UAV’s, where a hundred quid drone takes out a million pound armoured car, ora glide bomb a billion pound power station.

Wind turbines, especially the giant offshore types, are like F1 racing cars. They are engineered to resist the huge forces expected out at sea but they are fragile in the sense that a single high velocity bullet or small explosive charge could destroy a turbine blade, making the thing expensively unusable. Giant Offshore wind turbines are being constructed at this moment in the North Sea and, considering the belligerence of Russia, this would most likely be the front line in any future conflict.