Energy officials find unauthorized communication devices in Chinese solar power inverters

U.S. energy officials have found "unexplained" communications equipment inside some Chinese-made inverter devices, according to a report by Reuters published Wednesday.

The document reveals the presence of unauthorized and fraudulent communication devices in several Chinese-made solar power inverters. These could introduce unregulated and undocumented remote communication channels into the inverters, through which an attacker could remotely bypass cybersecurity firewalls used by utilities.

Similar devices were also found in batteries manufactured in China, the release said.

The "brain" of a photovoltaic system

Inverters are highly digitized products, often referred to as the "heart" or "brain" of a photovoltaic system. In theory, whoever could control the inverter could remotely interrupt or disconnect the solar power supply, resulting in power outages, blackouts or damage to energy infrastructure.

People connected with the matter who spoke to Reuters did not disclose the manufacturers or the number of products in which the unauthorized devices were found.

In the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from several Chinese suppliers, one said.

Risk posed by Chinese-made devices

In the wake of the revelation, U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in the country's renewable energy infrastructure.

Power inverters, produced primarily in China, are used around the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to the power grid. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.

The U.S. government has not publicly acknowledged the findings.

Risk associated with emerging technology

The Department of Energy (DOE) said in a comment to the media outlet that it continually assesses the risk associated with emerging technology and that there were significant challenges for manufacturers to disclose and document functionalities.

The DOE spokesperson stated that "as more domestic manufacturing takes hold, DOE is working across the federal government to strengthen U.S. supply chains, providing additional opportunities to integrate trusted equipment into the power grid."