The UK’s energy security is at a critical stage in a volatile world and market.
Security means more than generating enough; without the robust infrastructure taking energy from a mosaic of sources to where it is needed, generation alone can’t guarantee security.
With more intermittent wind and solar connecting to the system, supreme flexibility of supply is vital to fill any gaps with dispatchable power quickly and avoid blackouts.
As the East of England becomes an increasingly important source and transmitter of low-carbon electricity for the UK, its infrastructure also faces the mounting risk from hostile states.
Homegrown generation, supply and transmission is the bedrock of energy security, but it’s more complex, with physical and cyber security working hard to keep our lifeline systems safe and protected.
Flexible generation
When electricity demand is high, but the wind’s not blowing and the sun’s not shining, the energy gap is filled by dispatchable power from ‘the carbon bridge’ – gas-fired power stations.
RWE’s Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn combined-cycle power stations are among the system workhorses.
Giant unsung heroes of our electricity system, gas-fired power stations deliver rock steady, round-the clock dependability so our kettles, factories, shops and public buildings can function.
Their reliability and steadfastness match their flexibility, switching on and off to meet demand, plugging the hole between wind and solar generation and baseload nuclear and biomass.
At full capacity, the 24-year-old gas-fire combined-cycle gas and steam turbine plant at Great Yarmouth, with one gas turbine and one steam generator, can generate 420 megawatts – enough for 300,000 homes.
They take chemical energy and turn it into mechanical then electrical energy, creating heat on the way.
Manager Mark Pawlett leads the 33-strong team whose mission is “to be as flexible and available as much as we can to play our part in a very volatile energy market, from both commercial and demand perspectives”.
“The key is that we can offer that 420MW capacity to the market and the grid whenever they need it,” said Mark. “RWE and the markets tell us with as much notice as they can when they need us, and we will be available as much as we possibly can.”
The station can move from a “warm start” in about four hours, operating between 220 megawatts and 420 megawatts.
“A full cold start is about eight hours with varying graduations in between. It’s all about the expansion and the contraction of the metallic elements, such as the steam turbine mainly.”
The consistent gas flow directly from Bacton gas terminal in a 47km pipeline means “in very simplistic terms, we open the valve and there it is”, Mark said.
“We can help maintain the system frequency at 50 hertz. We do that because, unlike solar and wind, we have what is known as spinning reserve. So, we have about 160 tons rotating at 3,000 RPM that acts like a damper, which is something that solar and wind can’t necessarily do.
“Solar and wind are not constant or continuous. A very large solar field can have a black cloud come across the sun for 20 minutes and the output of that field can go from 5 megawatts to 2 megawatts and back to 5 megawatts as the cloud passes over.
“A power station has the ability to flex to keep the frequency and the demand in the right place.”
Daily conversations between the team and RWE’s supply and trading arm, RWEST, pass on market data intelligence for demand and the commercial element.
“We have a close relationship to determine when the best opportunity is for us to run because we obviously have fixed costs and variable costs. The fixed cost is the plant itself, and the variable cost is the cost of fuel, maintenance and the ‘life’ we take from components during running and start-up,” explained Mark.
“This regular dialogue ensures that we’re doing the right thing commercially as well as for a secure supply.”
The constant dynamic between ensuring reliable and flexible plant while completing necessary maintenance and meeting legal obligations is an ongoing daily challenge to ensure the station is ready when needed.
Mark and the team gauge maintenance windows according to generation sources.
“If we’re told it is solar or wind, we take that opportunity for low-level maintenance. We tell the maintenance team and the engineers they have a set window for completion, say 3pm, because there’s a chance we might run at 6pm.”
Traditionally, maintenance was in summer so the station was ready to run through the winter.
“This summer has seen a slight change in the market where we’ve seen high periods of demand where traditionally we wouldn’t have done,” Mark said.
“If we have a particularly still summer’s day, and demand is high for whatever reason – more people are getting air conditioning, more people are getting electric cars, other plants undertaking maintenance – we’re adapting to that change.
“There could be a time where we might end up doing some of our larger maintenance in winter.”
Twenty years ago, the station ran constantly from early September to March providing baseload energy.
“We literally ran the whole time. Now we can stop and start seven days a week. We can start to catch the evening peak at 4pm, come off at around 11pm when everybody’s gone to bed, and then start again at 5am and come off at about 11am.”
A seven-month outage for an equipment overhaul has ensured the Great Yarmouth power station will continue running until the early 2030s, and a new role beyond 2030 could be carbon capture. A feasibility study into retrofitting post-combustion carbon capture was announced in 2024 and could capture around 600,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year.
“We’re very well positioned to be part of that future, whether that’s hydrogen or carbon capture,” Mark said.
“Certainly, for the short and medium term, power stations like Great Yarmouth will still have a role within the energy market. You could argue that the more renewables replace the baseload, the more volatile the market could become, and our requirement could get greater.
“As we move into a carbon-free energy system, there are two things that we could do. We will probably need the spinning reserve, that damping effect, and we can be part of net zero by either adapting our plant to hydrogen or to have carbon capture and storage.”
Tom Glover, RWE’s UK country chair, added that the East of England is at the centre of its plans for renewable energy growth, working alongside the power stations to provide flexible generation.
“Vanguard West and Vanguard East have a combined planned capacity of 2.8 GW,” said Tom. “Together, those projects have the potential to generate enough clean electricity for around three million typical UK homes.
“Alongside our major renewables presence, RWE operates Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn power stations, providing flexible generation that can support the electricity system as the generation mix changes. This breadth of experience gives us a very practical view of what the transition requires.
“The scale of investment needed is substantial. RWE supports the ambition for clean power, but delivering it requires concrete progress to accelerate grid connections and planning approvals, and a stable policy environment that gives investors the confidence to commit capital over the long term.”
Transmission capacity
The UK’s critical enabler of energy security, the National Grid, pointed to the East of England as a potential net exporter of electricity as well as an importer in its transmission planning submission in January 2025.
Its network operation security measures make the system one of the most reliable in the world.
Craig Rivett, external affairs manager at National Grid and director at EEEGR, said: “The East of England is becoming an increasingly important source of cleaner, home-grown electricity, with significant amounts of offshore wind generation connecting to the network along the region’s coastline.
“As more renewable energy is developed, the electricity transmission network needs sufficient capacity to transport that power to homes, businesses and industry across Great Britain.
“Projects such as Bramford to Twinstead, Norwich to Tilbury and Sea Link have been proposed to increase network capacity and support the connection and movement of electricity across the region and beyond.
“Together, these projects could help accommodate future sources of low-carbon electricity, support economic growth and enable the East of England to both benefit and play an important role in the UK’s transition to a cleaner energy system.”
The 180km Norwich to Tilbury transmission reinforcement, if approved, will link Norwich, Bramford and Tilbury by overhead power lines.
The Bramford to Twinstead reinforcement is 29km of infrastructure for renewable and nuclear energy, with 18km of new 400 kV overhead line and 11km of underground cable, while the recently consented Sea Link is a 138km primarily offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable that will link Kent and Suffolk, carrying energy in either direction and avoiding network bottlenecks around London.
National Grid is investing £9.6bn in maintaining, upgrading and developing the electricity network in East Anglia.
Protecting assets
On top of generating enough power and transporting it where it needs to go, there’s also an escalating need to keep infrastructure safe from physical and cyber threats.
In October, the head of MI5 warned that artificial intelligence (AI) is “supercharging” security threats to the UK with headline cases where security services have intercepted potential attacks.
Intelligence-led and risk-based analysis is driving security like never before as offshore and onshore assets that produce, transport and store energy are potential targets for geopolitical, physical and cyber attacks.
Organised crime knocking out crucial energy supplies that keep the UK operating is an everyday real threat, and putting a “wrap around those assets” and having a depth of resilience is paramount, said Andy Buxton, CEO of Dardan Security.
Managing mounting risk demands relationships of trust and confidence between security specialists and the energy industry to deliver the mix of highly skilled people, advanced technology and intelligence-led partnerships that can keep infrastructure, personnel and the UK’s energy security safe.
The days of solely “man guarding” – officers on patrol and policing gates – as site security are long gone.
“Our work is far more risk based,” said Andy. “Staying ahead of how technology can be used to protect us, and also how it could be used against us, and how we prevent that from occurring, is a constant challenge.
“We invest our time, energy and intellectual resources, as well as physical resources, in making sure that we are current, competent and credible. We have to get it right every day. If somebody is trying to attack, they only need to get it right once to cause interruption.”
Energy is the biggest client for Dardan Security, with more than 50 years’ expertise protecting people, platforms, ports, power stations, vessels, helicopters and onshore infrastructure.
Its responsibility stretches on and offshore from the East of England to Humberside, Newcastle, Aberdeen, the Orkneys and Inverness. Its Cambridge operations centre monitors and protects using its people, CCTV, drones, systems, alarms and other technology and services, including its specialist search and detection dog services.
Helicopters flying offshore and vessels servicing wind farms out of Great Yarmouth and Newcastle are all safeguarded by its 500-strong team.
“There’s so much uncertainty at the moment. Having the resilience to respond to potential disruption, interference and business interruptions are what clients would probably say keep them awake,” said Andy. “Our role is to provide that business continuity, make sure that resilience is there and be ready to respond in certainty.
“We spend a lot of time talking and understanding ‘near and over the horizon’ threats and risks with our intelligence and other partners.”
Dardan’s intelligence partner in Oxford undertakes the deep intelligence with its team of former police officers and government officials.
“Each client is built a risk profile based on our evaluation of the business and its sites, covering everything from potential geopolitical threat from foreign state agents and organised crime, to insider threats and environmental protestors.
“Then, in conversation with the client, we mitigate risk with a blend of technology, systems, remote systems, access control, zoning spaces and people.
“We do a lot around intelligence of organised crime, working closely with the police and the counter terrorist security advisors regionally and nationally.”
Organised crime presents two key threats: a residual threat of theft because the price of copper and materials is incredibly high, and then the disruption the theft causes to the asset and project.
Three years ago, six Bulgarians were arrested in Great Yarmouth for spying for Russia, supplying information about people, places and training of Ukrainians at military bases. They were convicted and imprisoned last year.
“There are traditional ways of sabotage – espionage by foreign agents – but now organised crime groups are being contracted to do it on their behalf.
“Many organisations think that this will always happen to somebody else, and not them, but people were surprised when it occurred in Great Yarmouth.”
Screening and vetting clients’ staff to identify insider threats is another key part of Dardan Security’s work.
“The cost-of-living crisis means people have financial issues that can expose them to seek financial gain,” explained Andy. “People are more politically motivated in their ideology than ever, without always understanding the context. Screening and vetting programmes make sure that people’s motivations for working for an employer are legitimate.
“These are reviewed periodically. We have seen people supportive of their employer’s business position but when businesses diversify, that could then expose them to an insider risk because existing employees may not be fully supportive.”
Understanding risks and identifying new methods to mitigate them sits with Dardan Security’s technical innovation team.
“We are embracing AI under control, supporting our Cambridge operations centre. AI doesn’t take away the need for people to interpret, decision make and ultimately look at situations in a human way.
“The irony is we also look at AI as a risk because of how it can be used against our clients.”
When it comes to physical technology, drones are a preferred method of hostile reconnaissance which all Dardan’s officers are trained to identify. It’s also exploring the use of robot dogs to patrol, collect data and support security operations more widely.
The cocktail of rapid technology development and increasing terrorism is a big concern, Andy said.
“Not just standard terrorism but right-wing terrorism and the radicalisation, particularly of young people, by exposure to material online.
“What is really concerning is how the period of exposure to radical acts has been compressed so much in the last decade because material is so freely available, and the period to identify threats of radicalised acts has also compressed significantly.
“We are tasked to protect and keep infrastructure secure. If there was an attack, the implications could be catastrophic on the nation as well as individuals and business. The responsibility for resilience and preparedness is not lost on us.”
This story is also published in Insight Energy magazine, covering the latest news from the UK's energy sector. Read the latest edition here.
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