America’s power grid could be vulnerable to Chinese hijacking, report finds

Anyone who has ever worked with electricity in any way is familiar with an inverter. The relatively simple device regulates the flow of electrical power by changing direct current (DC) electricity to alternating current (AC) electricity. AC power not only runs most household appliances, but the larger electrical grid, as well. In other words, inverters are important components in any electrical system, as electricity must routinely be changed from DC to AC power.

In a grid with renewable energy components – like wind turbines and solar panels – inverters are critical. They convert the DC power generated by the solar panels or wind turbines into AC power used by the grid and by our homes. They also communicate with those who maintain the grid (utility companies), in order to provide updates or maintenance to the inverters, and to keep the grid functioning and stable. What happens, then, when those inverters communicate with nefarious actors? That’s when you have the potential for attacks on the power grid, blackouts, and even infiltration of your smart home electronic devices.

As a consequence, all countries should care about the inverters embedded in their power systems, and who exactly controls communication with them. It just so happens that the Chinese company Huawei is the largest supplier of such inverters in the world, and Chinese companies have begun to dominate the entire inverter manufacturing sector. That, combined with a growing dependence of many western countries on renewable energy sources, has produced a strategic vulnerability for the West and a corresponding strategic advantage for China.

According to a Reuters report, over the past nine months, “undocumented” or “rogue” communication devices have been discovered in U.S. solar inverters produced by various Chinese suppliers. These communication devices are essentially allowing solar panels in the United States to potentially communicate with unknown parties in China or be directed by China. The unexplained communications devices give the Chinese government the power to disrupt American and other Western power grids by seizing control of the solar panels that connect to the power grids.

The implications of this discovery should not be underestimated: Strategic dependence on Chinese-made power grid components means that China has both the power to disrupt the supply chain of such components, as well as to use the dependence offensively. The Chinese government could potentially disrupt U.S. or allied power grids by disabling or otherwise controlling and manipulating the inverters.

In fact, such an incident reportedly occurred in November 2024, according to Reuters, when some unknown number of solar power inverters in the United States were remotely disabled from China. The full extent of the activity and any resulting disruption was unclear. However, the act could have amounted to a kind of “test run” of a larger sabotage operation against U.S. and Western power grids. That should frighten all of us who care about a stable electrical system, one of the foundational pillars of an economically and even functional society.

One need only consider the recent widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal this April to see an example of what such an attack might entail. While that episode was reportedly caused by a series of power generation failures in Spain and a resulting cascading blackout, a similar scenario could theoretically be reproduced by a malicious actor trying to sabotage a vulnerable electrical grid. It is a concern U.S. policymakers are taking seriously and one that will require constant vigilance going forward.

Feature Image: NREL contractors Brian Lawson and Kenesaw Burwell work on panels that DOE is using to leverage a Power Purchase Agreement with Sun Edison and Xcel Energy to absorb the upfront installation costs. (Photo by Dennis Schroeder/Department of Energy)

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