INTERNACIONAL
Hidden communications devices found in Chinese solar power inverters spark security alarm
U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices that play a critical role in renewable energy infrastructure after unexplained communication equipment was found inside some of them, two people familiar with the matter said.
Power inverters, which are predominantly produced in China, are used throughout the world to connect solar panels and wind turbines to electricity grids. They are also found in batteries, heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.
While inverters are built to allow remote access for updates and maintenance, the utility companies that use them typically install firewalls to prevent direct communication back to China.
CHINESE OFFICIALS CLAIMED BEHIND CLOSED DOORS PRC PLAYED ROLE IN US CYBERATTACKS: REPORT
However, rogue communication devices not listed in product documents have been found in some Chinese solar power inverters by U.S. experts who strip down equipment hooked up to grids to check for security issues, the two people said.
Over the past nine months, undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, have also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers, one of them said.
Reuters was unable to determine how many solar power inverters and batteries they have looked at.
Solar panels are arrayed on Earth Day in Northfield, Massachusetts, on April 22, 2022. (Reuters/Brian Snyder/File Photo)
The rogue components provide additional, undocumented communication channels that could allow firewalls to be circumvented remotely, with potentially catastrophic consequences, the two people said.
Both declined to be named because they did not have permission to speak to the media.
«We know that China believes there is value in placing at least some elements of our core infrastructure at risk of destruction or disruption,» said Mike Rogers, a former director of the U.S. National Security Agency. «I think that the Chinese are, in part, hoping that the widespread use of inverters limits the options that the West has to deal with the security issue.»
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said: «We oppose the generalization of the concept of national security, distorting and smearing China’s infrastructure achievements.»
Using the rogue communication devices to skirt firewalls and switch off inverters remotely, or change their settings, could destabilize power grids, damage energy infrastructure, and trigger widespread blackouts, experts said.
«That effectively means there is a built-in way to physically destroy the grid,» one of the people said,
The two people declined to name the Chinese manufacturers of the inverters and batteries with extra communication devices, nor say how many they had found in total.
The existence of the rogue devices has not previously been reported. The U.S. government has not publicly acknowledged the discoveries.
Asked for comment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said it continually assesses risk associated with emerging technologies and that there were significant challenges with manufacturers disclosing and documenting functionalities.
«While this functionality may not have malicious intent, it is critical for those procuring to have a full understanding of the capabilities of the products received,» a spokesperson said.
Work is ongoing to address any gaps in disclosures through «Software Bill of Materials» – or inventories of all the components that make up a software application – and other contractual requirements, the spokesperson said.
Trusted Equipment
As U.S.-China tensions escalate, the U.S. and others are reassessing China’s role in strategic infrastructure because of concerns about potential security vulnerabilities, two former government officials said.
«The threat we face from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is real and growing. Whether it’s telecom hacks or remotely accessing solar and battery inverters, the CCP stops at nothing to target our sensitive infrastructure and components,» said U.S. Representative August Pfluger, a Republican member of the Committee on Homeland Security.
«It is about time we ramp up our efforts to show China that compromising us will no longer be acceptable,» he told Reuters.
Chinese energy infrastructure plays a large role in the power grids of many European countries. (Reuters/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo)
In February, two U.S. Senators introduced the Decoupling from Foreign Adversarial Battery Dependence Act, banning the Department of Homeland Security from purchasing batteries from some Chinese entities, starting October 2027, due to national security concerns.
The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on March 11 and has yet to be enacted.
THE REAL BREAKTHROUGH IN U.S.–CHINA TRADE TALKS IS MUCH BIGGER THAN JUST TARIFFS
It aims to prevent Homeland Security from procuring batteries from six Chinese companies Washington says are closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party: Contemporary Amperex Technology Company (CATL), BYD Company, Envision Energy, EVE Energy Company, Hithium Energy Storage Technology Company, and Gotion High-tech Company.
None of the companies responded to requests for comment.
Utilities are now preparing for similar bans on Chinese inverter manufacturers, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Some utilities, including Florida’s largest power supplier, Florida Power & Light Company, are attempting to minimize the use of Chinese inverters by sourcing equipment from elsewhere, according to two people familiar with the matter. FPL did not respond to requests for comment.
The DOE spokesperson said: «As more domestic manufacturing takes hold, DOE is working across the federal government to strengthen U.S. supply chains, providing additional opportunities to integrate trusted equipment into the power grid.»
‘Catastrophic Implications’
Huawei is the world’s largest supplier of inverters, accounting for 29% of shipments globally in 2022, followed by Chinese peers Sungrow and Ginlong Solis, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
German solar developer 1Komma5 said, however, that it avoids Huawei inverters, because of the brand’s associations with security risks.
«Ten years ago, if you switched off the Chinese inverters, it would not have caused a dramatic thing to happen to European grids, but now the critical mass is much larger,» 1Komma5 Chief Executive Philipp Schroeder said.
«China’s dominance is becoming a bigger issue because of the growing renewables capacity on Western grids and the increased likelihood of a prolonged and serious confrontation between China and the West,» he said.
Since 2019, the U.S. has restricted Huawei’s access to U.S. technology, accusing the company of activities contrary to national security, which Huawei denies.
CHINESE IMPORTS TO US PLUMMET TO LOWEST LEVELS SINCE PANDEMIC AMID TRUMP TARIFFS
Chinese companies are required by law to cooperate with China’s intelligence agencies, giving the government potential control over Chinese-made inverters connected to foreign grids, experts said.
While Huawei decided to leave the U.S. inverter market in 2019 – the year its 5G telecoms equipment was banned – it remains a dominant supplier elsewhere.
Huawei declined to comment.
In Europe, exercising control over just 3 to 4 gigawatts of energy could cause widespread disruption to electricity supplies, experts said.
The European Solar Manufacturing Council estimates over 200 GW of European solar power capacity is linked to inverters made in China – equivalent to more than 200 nuclear power plants.
At the end of last year, there was 338 GW of installed solar power in Europe, according to industry association SolarPower Europe.
«If you remotely control a large enough number of home solar inverters, and do something nefarious at once, that could have catastrophic implications to the grid for a prolonged period of time,» said Uri Sadot, cybersecurity program director at Israeli inverter manufacturer SolarEdge.
Strategic Dependencies
Other countries such as Lithuania and Estonia acknowledge the threats to energy security. In November, the Lithuanian government passed a law blocking remote Chinese access to solar, wind and battery installations above 100 kilowatts – by default restricting the use of Chinese inverters.
Energy minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas said this could be extended to smaller rooftop solar installations.
Estonia’s Director General of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Kaupo Rosin, said the country could be at risk of blackmail from China if it did not ban Chinese technology in crucial parts of the economy, such as solar inverters.
Estonia’s Ministries of Defense and Climate declined to comment when asked if they had taken any action.
In Britain, the government’s review of Chinese renewable energy technology in the energy system – due to be concluded in the coming months – includes looking at inverters, a person familiar with the matter said.
In November, solar power inverters in the U.S. and elsewhere were disabled from China, highlighting the risk of foreign influence over local electricity supplies and causing concern among government officials, three people familiar with the matter said.
Reuters was unable to determine how many inverters were switched off, or the extent of disruption to grids. The DOE declined to comment on the incident.
Plants grow through an array of solar panels in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 6, 2022. (Reuters/Brian Snyder/File Photo)
The incident led to a commercial dispute between inverter suppliers Sol-Ark and Deye, the people said.
«Sol-Ark does not comment on vendor relationships, including any relationship with Deye, nor does it have any control over inverters that are not branded Sol-Ark, as was the case in the November 2024 situation you referenced,» a Sol-Ark spokesperson said.
Deye did not respond to requests for comment.
The energy sector is trailing other industries such as telecoms and semiconductors, where regulations have been introduced in Europe and the U.S. to mitigate China’s dominance.
Security analysts say this is partly because decisions about whether to secure energy infrastructure are mostly dictated by the size of any installation.
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Household solar or battery storage systems fall below thresholds where security requirements typically kick-in, they said, despite now contributing a significant share of power on many Western grids.
NATO, the 32-country Western security alliance, said China’s efforts to control member states’ critical infrastructure – including inverters – were intensifying.
«We must identify strategic dependencies and take steps to reduce them,» said a NATO official.
INTERNACIONAL
Un terremoto en el centro de Bangladesh dejó al menos nueve muertos y más de 300 heridos
Un terremoto de magnitud 5,5 sacudió el centro de Bangladesh el viernes a las 10:38 de la mañana, cobrando al menos nueve vidas y dejando más de 300 heridos, de acuerdo con autoridades gubernamentales y varios medios locales. El epicentro se localizó en Ghorashal, dentro del distrito de Narsingdi, aproximadamente a 25 kilómetros de Daca, la capital del país, y a una profundidad de 10 kilómetros, según datos del Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS).
El sismo, que según el Departamento Meteorológico de Bangladesh tuvo una duración de 26 segundos y fue registrado con una magnitud de 5,7, desencadenó escenas de pánico en la capital, donde los edificios temblaron y miles de habitantes abandonaron apresuradamente sus viviendas y oficinas.
De acuerdo con reportes de la televisora DBC y el diario Prothom Alo, entre las víctimas mortales se encontraban al menos dos niños. Las muertes se produjeron principalmente debido a la caída de techos y muros, además del colapso de barandillas en un edificio del área de Armanitola, en la parte antigua de Daca, que mató a tres personas que compraban en una carnicería. Estas personas fueron trasladadas a un hospital cercano, donde se confirmó su fallecimiento. El diario Prothom Alo también señaló que alrededor de 252 empleados de la industria de la confección resultaron heridos durante estampidas mientras intentaban evacuar rápidamente sus lugares de trabajo en el distrito de Gazipur, adyacente a Daca, donde se concentran numerosas fábricas y centros industriales.
Familiares y testigos presenciaron escenas de angustia mientras las víctimas eran llevadas a centros médicos, como el Hospital Universitario de Daca, y estudiantes universitarios saltaron desde pisos altos de residencias estudiantiles durante el temblor, reportaron canales de televisión locales. AFP informó que en Daca fue visible el llanto y el miedo de los pobladores en la calle, tras verse sorprendidos por el desastre en el día de descanso nacional.
El Departamento de Bomberos y Defensa Civil movilizó equipos a edificios que presentaban inclinaciones preocupantes y atendió un incendio originado en una estación de energía en el barrio de Baridhara. Además, el gobierno interino declaró que al menos 14 edificios resultaron dañados, según la oficina del líder interino Muhammad Yunus, quien expresó su “profunda conmoción y tristeza por las víctimas reportadas en diferentes distritos” y aseguró que “se están tomando todas las medidas necesarias”.
El impacto del terremoto se sintió incluso en la ciudad india de Calcuta, a más de 325 kilómetros del epicentro, donde habitantes salieron a las calles en busca de resguardo, según testigos entrevistados por AFP. Hasta el momento, no se reportaron daños significativos ni víctimas en India.
El USGS precisó que el norte y sureste de Bangladesh son zonas sísmicamente activas por la interacción de las placas de India y Eurasia, pero la región central, donde ocurrió el sismo reciente, es menos propensa a este tipo de eventos. Históricamente, desde 1950 solo se han registrado 14 movimientos telúricos de magnitud similar en un radio de 250 kilómetros del epicentro.
Según expertos citados por AFP y medios locales, Bangladesh, con una población de 170 millones de habitantes, no está suficientemente preparada para enfrentar terremotos de mayor magnitud, situación que pone en alto riesgo a Daca, con cerca de 2,1 millones de edificaciones.
Las autoridades continúan evaluando los daños e instan a los distintos organismos públicos a permanecer atentos ante posibles réplicas y nuevas emergencias.
(Con información de AP y AFP)
Accidents,Disasters,Natural Catastrophes,Asia / Pacific,Disasters / Accidents
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The White House dubbed Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse a scam victim after he publicly complained the Trump administration would not fund or support his junket to the COP30 climate change conference in Belém, Brazil this week.
The Trump administration largely ignored the confab of global climate change leaders; a stark contrast to former President Joe Biden sending Clinton confidant John Podesta to lead a substantial U.S. delegation to COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2024.
«Sadly, Senator Whitehouse has fallen victim to the biggest scam of the century: the Green New Scam,» White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said of Whitehouse, D-R.I.
«The senator can foolishly spend time and money attending this radical ‘climate’ conference, but the Trump administration refuses to waste taxpayer dollars.»
BILL GATES DISCOVERS THE WAY TO FIGHT CLIMATE BATTLE ACTUALLY INVOLVES HELPING HUMANS
Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse speaks at a hearing. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Whitehouse spoke at a press conference on the House side of the Capitol Thursday with the blessing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
Whitehouse held up his COP30 badge and lamented that it did not label him a representative of the «United States of America» but instead «Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment: GLOBE.»
That group was co-founded by then-Sen. Al Gore, D-Tenn., and the late Sen. John Heinz III, R-Pa. in the 1990s, and Whitehouse said that without support from Secretary Marco Rubio’s State Department, he relied on a House of Representatives «energy and environment coalition» to facilitate his travel.
FLARING CLIMATE PROTESTS BECOMING MORE CONFRONTATIONAL AS FREE SPEECH TESTED GLOBALLY
Whitehouse said the confab – to which California Gov. Gavin Newsom also traveled – showed a «failure of the United States to be present.»
«For the first time in history that I’m aware of, the State Department refused to support or facilitate my travel or my credentialing. My credentials don’t say United States of America,» he said, adding that it is typically State Department or executive branch protocol to support «CODELs» or congressional delegations.
«[T]he State Department refused to support this – that’s how bad the Trump administration has become.»
PROTECTING AMERICA’S OUTDOORS IS PATRIOTIC — BUT RADICAL ACTIVISM GETS IN THE WAY
Whitehouse said President Donald Trump is ignoring COP30 because he does not effectively represent the U.S. government on climate matters.
«He represents the fossil fuel industry, and specifically his big billionaire fossil fuel donors,» Whitehouse said, before pivoting to his contention at the conference that «carbon pricing» – which critics call «carbon taxes» – is crucial.
«The good things that have come out of COP[30] so far mean that the plane crashes higher up the mountain. But if you want to get the plane over the mountaintop safely, you’ve got to have carbon pricing.»
EXCLUSIVE: HOUSE GOP REPORT ALLEGES $20B GREEN GRANTS ENRICHED BIDEN ALLIES
The Ocean State Democrat said he warned European COP30 attendees to hold firm if Trump attacks their climate commitments.
Jeffries later echoed Whitehouse, saying Trump is showing an unwillingness to address «issues of importance to the American people,» including climate change and affordability.
«The Trump administration and the United States government chose not to be involved and engaged at the most recent conference, essentially ceding leadership on this issue in the world to our rival: the Chinese Communist Party — while leaving America and Americans behind,» Jeffries said.
DEMS ACCUSE EPA OF TRYING TO KILL GREENHOUSE GAS REPORTING PROGRAM THAT AIDS CAP-AND-TRADE
Meanwhile, Daniel Turner, founder of Power The Future, a Virginia group that focuses on energy policy advocacy geared toward industry effects on workers and rural communities, said Whitehouse was out of line to make such an issue of the matter.
«It was bad enough that while the nation was reeling from the Democrats’ government shutdown, Senator Whitehouse took a tropical vacation and praised the communist Chinese,» Turner said.
Turner appeared to reference a Fox Business segment in which Whitehouse filmed himself at COP30 lamenting his lonely official presence, and saying how large the Chinese official «pavilion» was.
«I will never kiss the boots of the Communist Chinese that use slave and child labor to build crappy wind and solar which drives up the price of American electricity,» Turner said, saying it showed how «out of touch ‘blue-blood, Whites-Only-Country-Club Whitehouse’ is.»
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In 2021, Whitehouse refused to apologize for his family’s membership in a Newport, R.I., club that was accused of, but denied, retaining a discriminatory membership policy.
«I think the people who are running the place are still working on that, and I’m sorry it hasn’t happened yet,» Whitehouse said at the time.
Whitehouse further defended his presence at COP30 in a statement this month, saying that Republican «corruption» is deliberately raising costs on American families to the benefit of donors from the fossil fuel industry.
«Amidst sinking approvals and a shellacking in the most recent elections, it’s no surprise the Trump administration is unwilling to defend the fossil fuel industry’s unpopular and corrupt climate denial lies on the global stage,» Whitehouse said.
«In Belém, I hope to rally our allies to stay steady on climate action, including CBAM, in the face of attacks from the fossil fuel villains running the Trump administration. There is no pathway to climate safety without CBAM, and we must protect that pathway at all costs.»
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
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An Indian fighter jet crashed Friday at the Dubai Air Show in the United Arab Emirates, killing the pilot onboard, officials said.
Videos circulating on social media showed the IAF Tejas aircraft bursting into flames as it struck the ground, drawing gasps from crowds gathered at the event.
«The pilot sustained fatal injuries in the accident,» the Indian Air Force wrote on X, noting that an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the crash. «IAF deeply regrets the loss of life and stands firmly with the bereaved family in this time of grief.»
«A Tejas fighter aircraft from India participating in today’s flying display at the Dubai Airshow has crashed, resulting in the tragic death of the pilot,» added the Dubai Media Office. «Firefighting and emergency teams responded rapidly to the incident and are currently managing the situation on-site.»
US NAVY SEA HAWK HELICOPTER, F/A-18F SUPER HORNET FIGHTER JET GO DOWN IN SEPARATE SOUTH CHINA SEA INCIDENTS
Emergency services attend the scene after an Indian Tejas fighter jet crashed during a demonstration at the Dubai Air Show, at Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Dubai Media Office via AP)
An SUV bearing diplomatic plates flying the Indian flag was seen at the crash site, along with police and emergency personnel.
The air show later resumed flight demonstrations, with the Russian Knights aerobatics team flying overhead as emergency crews still worked the crash site, the Associated Press reported.
Tejas is India’s indigenous fighter aircraft, built by state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
SKIES AT STAKE: INSIDE THE U.S.–CHINA RACE FOR AIR DOMINANCE
Smoke billows following a crash of an Indian Tejas fighter jet, after it lost altitude and crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Air Show in this screengrab obtained from an eyewitness video. (Jignesh Variya/Reuters)
The lightweight, single-engine jet is expected to bolster India’s depleted fighter fleet as China expands its military presence in South Asia, including by strengthening defense ties with India’s rival Pakistan, according to the AP.
In September, India’s Defense Ministry signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, or HAL, to procure 97 Tejas jets for the air force. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2027.
The Indian fighter jet is seen flying during a demonstration moments before crashing at the Dubai Air Show on Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (Jon Gambrell/AP)
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A Tejas fighter jet crashed in the western Indian state of Rajasthan last year, but the pilot ejected safely in that incident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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