THE HAGUE, Netherlands \u2014 Hidden components in Chinese-made solar power equipment have caused alarm bells in Western capitals amid concerns over Beijing\u2019s ability to interfere with power grids. Europe may be particularly vulnerable, experts say, with most of its solar farms potentially at risk of remote shutdown. <\/p>\n
The revelation of undeclared remote access devices in American solar farms, first reported by Reuters<\/a> earlier this month, came less than a month after a power outage that shut down electricity for millions throughout Spain, Portugal, Andorra and parts of France, highlighting the possible fragility of even highly developed and integrated European power grids.<\/p>\n According to unnamed sources cited by Reuters, the communication devices that were embedded in solar farm gear were not shown on schematics and customer information of the products, suggesting they may have been deliberately concealed. The undisclosed devices were reportedly found during a routine disassembly of Chinese-made power inverters, which serve to connect solar farms to the electricity grid, control the flow of power and maintain the all-important grid frequency.<\/p>\n While Iberian authorities have ruled out a cyber attack in the case of the peninsula\u2019s massive blackout, the finding has nonetheless instilled a new sense of urgency in European planning to make the continent\u2019s integrated electrical grid safe and resilient.<\/p>\n Market dominance<\/b><\/p>\n Inverters are crucial in linking photovoltaic (PV) power plants, which output DC electricity, to the broader electricity network, which runs on AC. In 2023, 78% of all inverters installed in Europe came from Chinese vendors, with the overwhelming majority being made by Huawei and SunGrow, according to<\/a> DNV, a risk consultancy. The report was commissioned by SolarPower Europe, an industry advocacy group. <\/p>\n This market dominance can likely be explained by a combination of China\u2019s large manufacturing capacity and the comparatively lower prices of Chinese inverters compared to European ones. <\/p>\n Control over the inverters allows outsiders to simultaneously disconnect generating capacity from the grid, which can cause blackouts. It would also allow them to manipulate voltage and frequency settings to destabilize local grids and to override safety protections like anti-islanding systems.<\/p>\n Both Huawei and Sungrow have documented links to the Chinese government and the country\u2019s ruling Communist Party, including formal ties, participation in government projects, and officials holding high-ranking positions simultaneously in both the companies and the state. <\/p>\n Under Chinese law, Huawei faces mandatory cooperation requirements with intelligence services. The 2017 National Intelligence Law declares that<\/a> Chinese companies must \u201csupport, assist, and cooperate with\u201d China\u2019s intelligence-gathering authorities. As a result of questions over its independence and safety, the electronics giant has already faced restrictions on work on critical communications infrastructure \u2013 especially 5G networks \u2013 in several countries. It is also front and center in a major investigation currently ongoing in Brussels surrounding bribery of European officials.<\/p>\n Energy sovereignty at risk<\/b><\/p>\n \u201cEurope\u2019s energy sovereignty is at serious risk due to the unregulated and remote control capabilities of photovoltaic inverters from high-risk, non-European manufacturers \u2013 most notably from China,\u201d said the European Solar Manufacturing Council, an industry association.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t purely hypothetical, either. In November 2024, some solar inverters in the U.S., U.K. and Pakistan were actually disabled remotely from China. Very little was publicly revealed about this incident and its consequences; investigations later showed that the shutdown may have been the result of an industry dispute, according to<\/a> G\u00fcnter Born, a German tech and cybersecurity journalist. <\/p>\n Following the decoupling of Europe\u2019s energy needs from cheap and readily available Russian gas after the invasion of Ukraine, energy sovereignty has become a new priority for capitals across the continent. Renewables have been front and center, building on existing momentum to combat climate change and residual skepticism of nuclear power for its perceived safety shortcomings and high cost. <\/p>\n \u201cToday, over 200 GW of European PV capacity is already linked to inverters manufactured in China \u2013 the equivalent of more than 200 nuclear power plants,\u201d said Christoph Podewils, the ESMC secretary general, citing numbers by the DNV consultancy.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means Europe has effectively surrendered remote control of a vast portion of its electricity infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n The Iberian Peninsula blackout was triggered by a 2.2-gigawatt (GW) loss in electricity generation that occurred within seconds. Previously, DNV had estimated<\/a> that a loss of 3 GW of generating power could have serious ramifications for the European power grid. A loss of this amount of input can result in cascading effects, leading to a large-scale shutdown of the power grid, just as had occurred in Spain on April 28. <\/p>\n The DNV report identified over a dozen threat scenarios, most of which it considered \u201chigh\u201d or \u201ccritical\u201d risks even after the full implementation of existing EU cybersecurity measures.<\/p>\n In the first three months of 2025 alone, nearly 68 terawatt hours<\/a> of electricity were produced by solar panels, data from the energy think tank Ember shows. This marks an increase by almost a third over the same period a year earlier. It amounted to 8.2% of Europe\u2019s electricity production in March, despite the shorter days at that time of year. In summer, around 15% of Europe\u2019s electricity may come from the sun, with some countries \u2013 particularly around the Mediterranean \u2013 relying on it to make up over a quarter of their total energy mix during the daytime. <\/p>\n