Biometric doors, reissued staff passes and a “future-proofed” control room: the grid supplier says its most sensitive site is now “among the best-protected in Europe”. Work completes this summer.
Inside the walls. A Local Equipment Room at Planet Energy's Facility 8, part of the £4m upgrade. New biometric readers are visible beside the door. Picture: Ledger / T. Whitfield
Planet Energy has switched on a £4m security overhaul at Facility 8, the company’s most sensitive generation site, in what its leadership describes as a decisive answer to a rising tide of attacks on the national grid.
The programme, delivered by specialist contractor Sentrex Access Systems, replaces the site’s ageing entry controls with biometric fingerprint readers on every internal door, a full reissue of staff identity passes to a new secure design, and hardened access to the Local Equipment Rooms that house the plant’s industrial controls.
“Facility 8 is now among the best-protected industrial sites in Europe. Frankly, you would struggle to get past the front door.”
“This is about staying ahead,” said Gareth Local, Planet Energy’s director of operations, at a briefing on site. “Facility 8 is now among the best-protected industrial sites in Europe. Frankly, you would struggle to get past the front door, let alone into a control room.”
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