Ventography and the spatial politics of wind

Abstract

This article explores the co-production of wind energy resources and UK maritime territories in the North Sea. It shows how endeavors to map wind for energy are shaped by specific spatial imaginations, which are in turn making it possible for the UK to advance sovereign claims over volumetric spaces offshore. This follows a long history of efforts to study and map wind movements alongside significant chapters of colonialism, imperialism, and territorial dispossession. The practices involved in the transformation of atmospheric circulations into territorial claims center on what I call ventography: the systematic study and cartographic representation of wind in relation to political boundaries, a project which is shaped by, and subsequently enrolled in, territorialization, sovereign performances, and border regimes. In this vein, the intangible nature of wind, often thought to be beyond the grasp of spatial politics, is being transformed into a resource that is coming to play a role in the production and reconfiguration of space in altogether new ways. Through a focus on the UK’s attempts to transmute wind power into territorial power, this article traces how ventography is reshaping the scales and configurations of contemporary political geographies.