European producers of inverters, crucial components for connecting solar panels to the grid, are teaming up outside established European industry lobbying structures in a new challenge to China’s tightening grip on the supply chain.

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Solar panels, essentially a collection of wires and refined polysilicium, are generally considered too “dumb” to be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Not so the inverters, which are often vulnerable to easy access by ill-intentioned actors.

China dominates the solar panel supply chain, including the production of inverters, with 78% of the devices shipped to the EU coming from the world’s second-largest economy in 2023. This accounts for nine out of the 12 firms that dominate the EU market, potentially putting Beijing in a position to “significantly” affect the grid, according to a report by lobby group SolarPower Europe.

Now, Europe’s remaining inverter producers, including Austria’s Fronius, which recently quit SolarPower Europe over Huawei’s continued membership, have banded together in a bid to shore up their market – and, they say, the cybersecurity of Europe’s electricity grid.

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The Austrian firm is joined by Germany’s SMA, Spain’s Ingeteam and others to create a “resilient, competitive, and cyber-secure ecosystem of Western inverter, storage, and EMS [energy management system] manufacturers,” according to a statement shared with Euractiv. The initiative was facilitated by the Made-in-EU solar lobby group ESMC.

Inverters are a highly sensitive topic because their vulnerability to attack poses a credible risk to Europe’s electricity security.

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SolarPower Europe estimates that remote access to just 5 GW of solar panels through internet-connected inverters could, if abused, allow an actor or firm to “significantly” affect the grid. There are currently 13 manufacturers that could, in principle, commit such sabotage, the group suggests.

But the decision by inverter manufacturers to split from the main solar PV lobby has widened a divide with Europe’s solar sector.

On the one hand, SolarPower Europe represents Chinese manufacturers and developers who rely on their low-cost products. On the other, ESMC and the inverter producers argue for EU-based production and say the security benefits justify higher prices.

“Non-technical risk factors – such as governance structures, ownership, external influence, and the overall trustworthiness of entities – are as decisive for security as technical safeguards,” the new alliance says.

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