New research from The Alan Turing Institute has highlighted how offshore wind farms—which are key for renewable energy moving forward—are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

The remote location of wind farms means they’re especially at risk of cyber-attacks, as more digital infrastructure is required to communicate with their onshore systems.

A swathe of wind farms also rely on older communication and software systems, not designed with cybersecurity in mind.

The incorporation of more modern digital solutions alongside older, legacy infrastructure can further increase wind farms’ susceptibility to attack, too.

However, the Institute researchers found that AI and intelligent automation could be used to bolster these systems by helping their human operators to recognise threats to offshore wind.

A collaborative publication between The Alan Turing Institute’s Centre for Emerging Technology (CETaS) and Data Centric Engineering (DCE) programme, the new research advocates ways in which policymakers and industry could help enhance the cybersecurity of offshore wind.

Key recommendations from the authors include: integrating AI in offshore digital systems, establishing attack response protocols, creating organisational response plans, and implementing cross-border intelligence sharing.

Successful cyber-attacks could lower the public’s trust in wind energy—and other forms of renewable energy—if disruption to critical services and power supplies happen.

A worst case scenario is potential cyber-attacks leading to power outages that leave critical services, not least hospitals, without the ability to function.

Lead researcher for CETaS and report author, Anna Knack, said: “As offshore wind becomes a larger part of the UK’s energy supply, it is essential that more is done to protect it from disruption and cyber-attacks.

“New regulation, innovative technical solutions and international collaboration across sectors will be crucial to making these systems more resilient in the future and ensuring the nation can safeguard its access to an important source of renewable energy.”

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As it stands, the UK has more offshore wind capacity than any other nation, with offshore wind already accounting for around 13% of UK electricity production.

In 2023, offshore wind surpassed the portion of electricity produced by gas for the first time.

Dr Alexander Babuta, who’s director of CETaS, also commented: “The UK’s offshore wind production is set to significantly increase over the coming years. However, the more it becomes integrated into our energy supplies the greater the potential for serious disruption if it were to come under a cyber-attack.

“Incorporating AI into these systems is one way that cybersecurity could be improved. However, to make offshore wind more resilient we need to consider the robustness of the entire system, such as rapid power recovery, as well as eliminating cybersecurity threats.”