Britain risks swapping one form of energy dependence for another as it cuts its use of imported fossil fuels, while relying heavily on Chinese technology and materials to build the low-carbon system replacing them.
A new audit from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China warns the UK needs much clearer national-security safeguards and more resilient supply chains as Chinese companies become increasingly important across solar, batteries, critical minerals and power electronics.
That concern is reinforced by separate parliamentary research which shows how concentrated some of those supply chains have become.
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology says China controls around 70% of refining capacity across most strategic minerals used in clean-energy technologies, while Britain has little domestic mining and only limited processing capability.
The same problem runs through manufactured equipment. Solar panels, battery cells, inverters and other components are increasingly coming from Chinese suppliers at the same time as Britain is trying to accelerate renewable generation, storage and grid investment under Clean Power 2030.
Parliament’s analysis highlights how vulnerable that can become when geopolitics intervenes. Chinese exports of rare-earth magnets fell 75% year-on-year in May 2025 after new licensing restrictions were introduced, affecting materials used in wind turbines, electric vehicles and other advanced electrical equipment.
The concern is therefore less about renewables themselves and more about who controls the equipment, minerals and manufacturing capacity needed to deliver them. If too much of that sits in one country, Britain remains exposed to export controls, trade disputes and wider political tensions even if more of its electricity is generated at home.
There are also risks beyond minerals, transformers and other grid equipment already face long lead times and British network companies are competing with utilities across Europe for limited manufacturing capacity, while rapid growth in batteries and digital grid technology adds another layer of supply-chain dependence.
Bringing more of that production back to the UK will not be straightforward. High energy and labour costs make domestic manufacturing difficult and companies are unlikely to build factories without confidence that there will be enough long-term demand to justify the investment.
The Government is trying to address some of this through its Critical Minerals Strategy, Clean Power 2030 programme and support for domestic energy manufacturing, but the scale of the dependency means the question is becoming much broader than simple import substitution.
Britain can reduce its exposure to volatile gas and oil markets and still remain strategically dependent if the panels, batteries, inverters, transformers and minerals needed for the new system are overwhelmingly sourced from China.
Copyright © 2026 Energy Live News LtdELN