New concerns about Chinese inverters due to possible hacking
Recently, reports surfaced about ‘hidden communication equipment’ in certain Chinese solar inverters. Could China be using this to sabotage the energy infrastructure in other countries? Whatever the case, the news led to questions in the House of Representatives; what exactly is going on?On May 14, Reuters news agency reported an alarming story: hidden communication devices had been found in Chinese converters intended for the US market. It was not immediately clear what the equipment was used for, but it caused quite a stir, not only in the US, but also here in Holland.
Reuters news agency reported the striking news
The fear is that the Chinese government could use this secret remote access to paralyze the electricity supply in other countries. The Americans in particular are very concerned about this; that is why, for example, a Chinese company like Huawei is actively being kept out of the US market. Huawei solar panel and battery systems are therefore not sold in the US.
'Kill switch'
In the meantime, other legislation is being drafted in the US that would ban six other Chinese inverter and battery manufacturers from the market, including battery giants BYD and CATL. Now parliamentary questions have also been raised in the Netherlands about these discoveries and also about whether or not a 'kill switch' is present in inverters with which a malicious party could switch off a large part of our power supply in one fell swoop.
Malicious intentions or not?
In itself, it's a good thing that people are aware of possible safety risks with regard to something as essential as the energy supply. On the other hand, it is not at all clear whether there were really bad intentions behind the presence of these communication modules. Sometimes companies put such modules in their devices to be able to perform harmless but necessary firmware updates remotely, even if the customer's home network wouldn't allow them to pass through properly. However, these modules should also be listed in the product documentation of the inverters and batteries; that was apparently not the case here.
Zonnefabriek mainly installs inverters from German brand SMA such as this one, and no Chinese brands.
We don't expect Zonnefabriek's equipment to be much affected by this news; after all, we mainly install inverters and battery systems from German brand SMA. SMA prides itself on taking cybersecurity very seriously, as it is a feature that sets them apart in today's fierce competition with other brands.
We're curious to see whether Dutch politicians will attach any consequences to this recent news, and whether the parliamentary questions will lead to any action being taken. If anything comes out that is important to you and us, we will of course let you know as quickly as possible!