Baltic Sea nations seek to enhance security of offshore infrastructure

At a high-level energy security meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Wednesday, the energy ministers of eight Baltic Sea countries committed to bolstering their collaboration to strengthen the security of offshore energy infrastructure.

The Vilnius Declaration on Offshore Wind Development in the Baltic Sea was endorsed by Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. The countries also commit to further developing offshore wind energy and fostering regional cooperation with an emphasis on offshore energy infrastructure interconnections.

The meeting, which comes as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and increased security concerns, was attended by the EU and representatives of NATO, the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), European transmission system operators (TSOs) and the European wind industry.

“Renewables are critical infrastructure. We must make them secure. The wind industry is already helping the military to protect energy infrastructure - and to support national security more broadly. By exchanging data, hosting relevant technology and supporting the operation of radar. The NATO is doing excellent work here,” Giles Dickson, chief executive of WindEurope, said in a statement issued by the industry organisation.

Dickson also called on governments to build physical, cyber and data security into their procurement of energy equipment, including the criteria they apply to who can build wind farms.

David van Weel, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber, commented: “The stakes for NATO are high: If Allies take diverging directions in adapting to the energy transition, some technologies might be incompatible and our military interoperability can be at risk. If we do not plan and secure the supply chains of critical raw materials and renewable energy technologies, we might end up with another energy dependency – this time on China.”

WindEurope pointed out that Baltic Sea countries already pledged to build 19.6 GW of offshore wind by 2030. Currently, there are 3.1 GW of wind farms in the Baltic Sea.

The Vilnius declaration came only a day after six countries bordering the North Sea -- Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and the UK -- signed a joint declaration to improve collaboration to protect critical infrastructure in the North Sea, such as power cables, gas pipes and telecommunications links.

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