Kill Switches Secretly Installed In Solar Panels
Chinese “kill switches” have been discovered hidden in American solar farms, triggering urgent warnings over US national energy security and prompting calls to suspend the deployment of renewable energy generation in the UK.
The kill switches, identified as cellular radios, are embedded within power inverters manufactured by Chinese companies and sold to US power generators
Power inverters are critical components in solar and wind energy systems. They act as the vital link between renewable energy sources and the wider electricity grid, converting the generated power into a usable form.
The presence of these remotely cyber controlled devices raises the possibility of potential vulnerabilities within the power grid.
Power inverters play a critical role in solar and wind farms by converting energy into a form compatible with the national grid, making them a key point of vulnerability if compromised.Tampering with this type of equipment allows China the power to trigger blackouts across the West, and could be a way of destroying the grid.
China has dismissed the allegations as a smear campaign, but the discovery has triggered alarm within the US government and is expected to prompt a similar UK security checks.
Net Zero Implementation & Fears Of Chinese Control of Energy Infrastructure
There have benn serious requests for a pause in the UK’s green energy expansion have intensified following reports that Chinese-made components capable of remote shutdown, dubbed “kill switches”, were found in US solar farms.
Indeed, concerns are mounting as Chinese companies dominate the global supply of power inverters, batteries, and solar panels, key components used widely across Western energy systems. Chinese firms apparently supply around 50% of the world’s solar inverters and in 2023, two companies, Huawei and Sungrow, controlled more than 50% of the global market.
Huawwei has previously fallen under suspicion of covertly embedded devices in its 5G telecommunications technology, prompting its removal from telecoms infrastructure in the UK and numerous other Western jurisdictions.
The European Solar Manufacturing Council estimates that over 200GW of Europe’s solar capacity, which is equivalent to the output of 200 nuclear power stations, relies on Chinese-manufactured inverters. Recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal are believed to have been triggered by the sudden loss of only 2GW of generation, highlighting the system’s vulnerability.
Telegraph | Daily Mail | Reuters | Tech Digest | Reddit | Facebook | Share Talk
Image: Aldward Castillo
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