Copper thieves have been targeting England’s onshore windfarms, and security experts say organised gangs could be behind the crimewave.
At least 12 large windfarms across Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Humberside, Northamptonshire, North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have fallen victim to cabling thieves in the past three months.
Typically there may be fewer than five opportunistic incidents a year, and the recent spree suggests an organised group may be targeting the industry, according to the security company DeterTech Crime Intelligence.
“The current state of offending is exceptional and unlike anything I’ve seen,” said Richard Crisp, an intelligence analyst at DeterTech. “We would typically expect to receive about four reports per year. It’s also noteworthy that those reports were typically of isolated single turbines, whereas in 2025 they have all been of large windfarms, operating multiple turbines.”
In one instance, the towers of three turbines within a single windfarm were broken into, which Crisp said underlined the scale of the criminality and the organised nature of the heists.
The spate of thefts has emerged as windfarm developers prepare to invest innew projects in Englandafter the Labour government lifted a ban on such proposals last year. The government hopes to double the number of onshore windfarms by the end of the decade to help create a virtually carbon-free electricity system by 2030.
A source close to the affected windfarm owners – which have not been made public – said it was understood that thieves broke open the doors found at the base of wind turbine towers, which are used for maintenance work.
The offenders have appeared undeterred by the fact that the turbines were operating at the time of the thefts, which suggests a high level of confidence and familiarity with the infrastructure.
Windfarm developments are often in remote rural areas, meaning criminals do not necessarily need to wait for the cover of nightfall to carry out their thefts, the source added.
“Copper is a valuable resource. So if you can steal something that will get a good price, there will be people willing to do that,” the source said. “From a risk versus reward calculation, stealing copper from a windfarm will be a lot more attractive than dealing drugs, for example. Stealing copper does not come with a class-A penalty.”
The industry is working with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership, which aims to combat metal crime from other infrastructure, including railway and telephone lines.
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Although many windfarms are protected by high fences, locked gates and deep trenches dug to prevent vehicles from accessing the site, some can be easily accessed by would-be thieves.
Owners have been urged to increase security measures and monitor their CCTV for any signs of criminal intent. In most of the cases of theft suspicious vehicles have been spotted carrying out “hostile reconnaissance” beforehand, according to DeterTech.
James Robottom, the head of policy at RenewableUK, said the trade group was aware of the recent incidents and was “working pro-actively with the police to identify ways to secure sites even more effectively in the future”.
“This organised criminality not only affects the operation of important energy infrastructure – it also risks the lives of our workers and those carrying out these thefts,” Robottom said.