Net Zero Watch calls for emergency restart of fracking
As Russia threatens UK energy supplies, Britain needs to restart fracking now
London, 4 May - Campaigning group Net Zero Watch has warned the Government that its ban on fracking is now a direct threat to national security and has called for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to change course as a matter of urgency.
It has been reported this week that NATO officials are extremely concerned that Russia may have mined gas pipelines and windfarm cables in the North Sea.
According to Net Zero Watch analysis, offshore wind generates 10% of the UK’s electricity supply, a figure that is rising rapidly.
According to Net Zero Watch director, Andrew Montford:
Offshore wind generation is increasingly concentrated in a small number of huge windfarms. If someone takes out the undersea grid connections of just the ten largest, 6% of our electricity supply could be eliminated at a stroke, and nobody would know who had done it.”
In addition, 77% of the UK’s gas imports come by undersea pipeline from Norway, and are thus also at risk. With geopolitical tensions on the rise, it is clear that pipelines, undersea wires and interconnectors have become a critical vulnerability, and experts are calling for an urgent rethink.
Security expert Professor Gwythian Prins said:
In time of ‘grey war’ the only secure energy sources are 'firm' power sovereign assets. That means onshore gas - and coal - starting with fracked gas. National security requires fully exploiting those resources, while giving the Royal Navy and the RAF the wherewithal fully to defend firm energy assets - first and foremost oil and gas rigs and pipelines and the Norwegian gas pipeline in the North Sea."