Steve Gibson (139:31)
Here's what we know. Thanks to this reporting from Reuters, they wrote. U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said. Power inverters, they wrote, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels with wind and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers. While inverters are built to allow remote access for updates and maintenance, the utility companies that use them typically install firewalls to prevent direct communication back to China. However, rogue communication devices not listed in product documents have been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by US Experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues, the two people said. Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices in including cellular radios have been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, one of them said. Reuters was unable to determine how many solar power inverters and batteries they've looked at. The rogue components provide additional undocumented communication channels that could allow firewalls to be circumvented remotely with potentially catastrophic consequences that the two people said. Both declined to be named because they did not have permission to speak to the media. However, Mike Rogers, a former director of the U.S. national Security Agency RNSA, said, quote, we know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk, risk of destruction or disruption. I think that the Chinese are in part hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the west has to deal with the security issue, unquote Meanwhile, a person for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said, we oppose the generalization of the concept of national security, distorting and smearing China's infrastructure achievements, unquote Experts said that these rogue communication devices to skirt firewalls and switch off inverters remotely or change their settings could destabilize power grids, damage energy infrastructure and trigger widespread blackouts. One of the people asked said that effectively means there is a built in way to physically destroy the grid. The two people declined to name the Chinese manufacturers of the inverters and batteries which were found to contain extra communication devices, nor say how many they had found in total. The existence of the rogue devices has not previously been reported, nor has the US Government publicly acknowledged the discoveries. When asked for comment, the U.S. department of Energy said it continually assesses risk associated with emerging technologies and that there were significant challenges with manufacturers disclosing and documenting functionalities, a spokesperson said. While this functionality may not have malicious intent, it is critical for those procuring to have a full understanding of the capabilities of the products received, the spokesperson added. Work is ongoing to address any gaps in disclosure through software bill of materials or inventories of all the components that make up a software application. Okay, now I'll just interrupt and say that a software bill of materials doesn't quite address the issue of hidden cellular radios and software bills of material are voluntary disclosures of software components and libraries. They don't address concerns of possible malicious intent. Reuters Continues at US China As US China tensions escalate the US and others are reassessing China's role in strategic infrastructure because of concerns about potential security vulnerabilities, two former government officials said. U.S. rep said U.S. representative August Fuger a a Republican member of the Committee on Homeland Security told Reuters, quote, the threat we face from the Chinese Communist Party is real and growing. Whether it's telecom hacks or remotely accessing solar and battery inverted, the CCP stops at nothing to target our sensitive infrastructure and components. It is about time we ramp up our efforts to show China that compromising US will no longer be acceptable. Unquote. In February, two US Senators introduced the Decoupling From Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence act, banning the Department of of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries from some Chinese entities starting October 2027 due to national security concerns. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and government affairs on March 11 and has yet to be enacted. That's interesting, since it suggests that there are areas of the government that must be aware of of at least the potential for this sort of abuse, reuters explains of this bill. It aims to prevent Homeland Security from procuring batteries from six Chinese companies Washington says are closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. BYD Co. Envision Energy, Eve Energy Co. Hitium Energy Storage Technology Co. And Goshen High Tech Co. None of these six companies responded to Reuters requests for comment. Additionally, utilities are now preparing for similar bans on Chinese inverter manufacturers, three people with knowledge of the matter said. Some utilities, including Florida's largest supplier, Florida Florida Power and Light company Are attempting to minimize the use of Chinese inverters by sourcing equipment from elsewhere, according to two people familiar with the matter. FPL did not respond to requests for comment, the DOE spokesperson said. As more domestic manufacturing takes hold, DOE is working across the federal government to strengthen US Supply chains, providing additional opportunities to integrate trusted equipment into the power grid. Huawei is the world's largest supplier of inverters, accounting for 29% of shipments globally in 2022, followed by Chinese peers Sun Grow and Guillong Solis, according to the consultancy Wood Mackenzie. German solar developer One5 said, however, that it avoids Huawei inverters because of the brand's associations with security risks, One5's chief executive Philip Schroeder said. Ten years ago, if you switched off the Chinese inverters, it would not have caused a dramatic thing to happen to European grids. But now the critical mass is much larger. China's dominance is becoming a bigger issue because of the growing renewables capacity on Western grids and the increased likelihood of a prolonged and serious confrontation between China and the West. Since 2019, the US has restricted Huawei's access to US technology, accusing the company of activities contrary to national security, which Huawei denies. Experts explained that Chinese companies are required by law to cooperate with China's intelligence agencies, giving the government potential control over Chinese made inverters connected to foreign grids, while Huawei declined to leave the US inverter market. I'm sorry, Huawei decided to leave the US inverter market in 2019, the year its 5G telecoms equipment was banned. It remains a dominant supplier elsewhere. Huawei declined to comment. Experts explained that in Europe, exercising control over just 3-4 GW of energy could cause widespread disruption to electrical supplies. The European Solar Manufacturing Council estimates that over 200 gigawatts of European solar power capacity is linked to inverters made in China, equivalent to more than 200 nuclear power plants. At the end of last year, there was 338 gigawatts of installed solar power in Europe, according to industry association Solar Power Europe. Yuri Sadot, cybersecurity program director at Israeli inverter manufacturer SolarEdge, said if you remotely control a large enough number of residential solar inverters and do something nefarious at once, that could cause catastrophic implications to the grid for a prolonged period of time. Other countries, such as Lithuania and Estonia, acknowledged the threats to energy security in November. In November, the Lithuanian government passed a law blocking remote Chinese access to solar, wind and Battery installations above 100kW by default restricting the use of Chinese inverters. Estonia's energy minister said this could be extended to smaller rooftop solar installations. Estonia's director general of the foreign intelligence service, Kalpo Rosen, said the country could be at risk of blackmail from China if it did not ban Chinese technology in crucial parts of the economy, such as solar inverters. Estonia's ministries of Defense and climate declined to comment when asked if they had taken any action in Britain, a person familiar with these matters said. The government review of Chinese renewable energy technology in the energy system, due to be concluded in the coming months, includes looking at inverters. And get this, here's one that slipped under the radar, reuters wrote in November. Solar power inverters in the US and elsewhere were disabled from China, highlighting a risk of foreign influence over local electricity supplies and causing concern among government officials, three people familiar with the matter said. Reuters was unable to determine how many inverters were switched off or the extent of disruption to grids. The DOE declined to comment on the incident, but again last November, China remotely switched off power in the us. The incident led to a commercial dispute between inverter suppliers Sol Ark and Dye, spelled D E y e, the people said. A solarc spokesperson said solarc does not comment on vendor relationships, including any relationship with dai, nor does it have any control over inverters that are not branded solar, as was the case in the November 2024 situation. You referenced DAI for their part did not respond to requests for comment. The energy sector is trailing other industries such as telecoms and semiconductors, where regulations have been introduced in Europe and the US to mitigate China's dominance. Security analysts say this is partly because decisions about whether to secure energy infrastructure or are mostly dictated by the size of any installation household, solar or battery storage systems fall below thresholds where security requirements typically kick in. They said despite how. Contributing a.
