At the instigation of MEPs Bart Groothuis (Renew) and Miriam Lexmann (EPP), around 30 members of the European Parliament have urged the EU Commission to introduce immediate and binding restrictions on »high-risk« solar inverter suppliers, particularly those based in China. In a letter addressed to EU Commissioners Henna Virkkunen (Digital Sovereignty, Security and Democracy) and Dan Jørgensen (Energy and Housing) and seen by PHOTON, the Chinese company Huawei is explicitly named as a security risk. »Huawei, designated as a high-risk vendor by the Commission, accounted for over 115 GW of Europe’s solar inverter market up to 2023. It is one of six Chinese vendors that collectively control more than two-thirds oft he market (219 GW) in Europe. And our dependency is deepening: in 2024, 80 per cent of all new PV inverter capacity installed in Europe originated from China,« the letter states.
The signatories also refer to warnings from various European countries. Lithuania, for example, has already banned China from accessing solar and wind power plants remotely. Additionally, the Czech cybersecurity authority NUKIB and the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) have recently issued warnings about the risks posed by China-related technologies in critical sectors. Chinese PV inverters were highlighted as technology that poses a high risk of attack to the power grid supply chain.
Furthermore, even though Western inverter manufacturers currently have the capacity to meet European demand, they would lose market share dramatically. »When the ongoing studies are completed and potential legislation is tabled, as much as two years may have passed. By that time Europe, risks having lost ist remaining inverter manufacturers« The warning is that the European Union would then be left with no non-Chinese alternatives.
© PHOTON
