'I'm an energy expert – this would be the apocalyptic scenario if UK's power went down'

In recent years, there has been growing speculation about the resilience of the UK’s energy network, even as an increasing share of electricity is generated from renewable sources. Much of this concern has been driven by rising global tensions, prompting questions over whether the system could withstand malicious attacks or extreme weather events.

Against this backdrop, a co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre has warned that, in the event of a major power outage, the situation could resemble blackouts seen in Spain and Portugal in recent years, with people becoming trapped in lifts and trains grinding to a halt. Those outages occurred when electricity supplies across the Iberian peninsula suddenly failed, causing widespread disruption and raising concerns about how a similar scenario might unfold in the UK.

Professor Bell explained to the i: “It would be quite similar to how things looked in Spain and Portugal. You’d get stuck in lifts, wherever they are in the lift shaft. Trains would get stopped – you might be in a diesel train but the signalling depends on electricity.

“In 2003 there was a localised power issue which affected only parts of London, but it was a hot August day and people were stuck in sweltering [underground] tunnels with no air conditioning.”

Alongside transport disruption, Professor Bell warned that everyday essentials would also be affected, with fridges ceasing to cool food and communication systems becoming unreliable.

He said: “Refrigerators will stop working, so you’re worried about food going off….Your Wi-Fi stops working, too. Communication becomes difficult, because if you’ve got a battery on your phone, you can still try and find out what’s going on, but you’re dependent on the mobile phone networks staying up and running.”

Professor Bell’s comments come as many households face rising energy bills linked to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. They also follow remarks from energy minister Michael Shanks, who argued that renewable energy could strengthen the UK’s national security by making the system less vulnerable to attack.

Mr Shanks said this was because solar panels and wind farms are harder to target than fossil fuel power plants.

Speaking from Ukraine, which has endured repeated strikes by Russia on its energy infrastructure, told the Guardian: “Building a decentralised power system with a whole series of assets is less of a risk of physical attack than large-scale power stations.

“Moving towards clean power is the best way to deliver our energy security in an increasingly uncertain world….They [Ukraine] are building decarbonised infrastructure across the country because solar and wind and batteries are much harder to target than large scale power stations.”

Mr Shanks added that the UK could learn valuable lessons from Ukraine, not only on improving resilience to attacks but also on strengthening overall energy security.