Australian Government Urged to Assess Chinese Solar Panels Over Cybersecurity Concerns

Made-in-China solar panels produce 3 times more emissions than UN claims: Report

Solar panels on a roof in Albany, Western Australia, on Aug. 8, 2023. Susan Mortimer/The Epoch Times

The Australian government has been urged to assess the risks involved in the use of foreign-made solar technology to ensure the national power grid is fully protected from targeted cyber-attacks.

James Paterson, the shadow minister for home affairs and cyber security said that 58 percent of the internet-connected solar inverters in Australia came from companies based in China.

“This includes companies like Huawei who we have banned from our 5G network, and who are subject to China’s [national] intelligence laws, which means they can be compelled to assist the work of Chinese Intelligence agencies at any time,” he told Sky News Australia.

The opposition minister warned that the technology, which converts solar energy into electricity, could be exploited by hackers and urged the government to invest in cybersecurity to keep the grid safe.

“The inverters themselves could be disabled through cyber vulnerabilities which would take out power to your own home or residence or business,” he said.

Beijing Dominates 76 Percent of Global Solar Inverter Market

Mr. Paterson’s comments come after new research from the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which shows that Beijing now dominates up to 76 percent of the global solar inverter market.

Rachael Falk, security chief executive of CRC, said the danger of foreign-owned cyber inverters did not become obvious until recent years with the advent of “smart” devices.

“Traditionally, cyber risk with solar inverters was low because they were not connected to the internet. However, as the popularity of smart home energy systems has boomed, this has changed, with most solar inverters now web-connected,” she told The Australian.

“While an attack on one home solar system would not impact the grid, scaled, targeted simultaneous attacks could be catastrophic, resulting in a ‘black start’ event.”

Senator James Paterson in the Senate, in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 6, 2023. Martin Ollman/Getty Images

The CRC recommended cyber security impact assessments be completed for all solar inverters being sold in Australia and mandatory cyber security ratings be introduced for solar inverters and other devices with the ability to connect to the web and exchange data.

“Such a program would assess solar inverters for cyber vulnerabilities, which would be reported back to manufacturers for compulsory remediation, with ongoing assessment to ensure cyber vulnerabilities are appropriately addressed,” reads the report (pdf).

“Solar inverters assessed as having serious cyber security vulnerabilities should be removed from sale and recalled from use, or appropriate security fixes applied if available.”

Mr. Paterson urged the Albanese authority to come up with a plan “before they become too deeply embedded in the grid.”

“Thousands of these products are being installed every week,” he said. “Now the Labor Party is aware of this risk, they’ve talked about this risk but they’ve done absolutely nothing to deal with it and they’re planning to put in 82 percent renewables by 2030 and that will exacerbate it.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told media last month that the government was “working across the economy to identify threats to our national security.”

Made-in-China Solar Panels 3 Times More Dirty: Report

Other than security concerns, made-in-China solar panels have also been accused of producing three times more carbon emissions than the United Nations claimed.

Workers inspect solar panels in the early morning at the fishing-solar complementary photovoltaic power generation base in Taizhou, in China's eastern Jiangsu province on July 12, 2023. Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

Chinese-made solar panels are about three times as dirty in terms of carbon emissions during their production as what has been claimed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the U.N. body for assessing climate change science, according to a July report by Environmental Progress, a nonprofit organization, in collaboration with The Blind Spot and Italian analyst Enrico Mariutti.

“People say solar panels don’t produce carbon emissions, but they do. And now, a major new investigation by Environmental Progress, drawing on the research of @enricomariutti, finds that solar panels made in China produce at least 3x more carbon emissions than IPCC claims,” Mr. Shellenberger, an investigative journalist who co-founded Environmental Progress, wrote in a tweet on July 24.

Specifically, the IPCC claims that the carbon footprint of solar panels—most of which are made in China—is about 48 grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

Workers are making solar photovoltaic modules used for small solar panels at a factory in Haian in China's eastern Jiangsu Province on Jan. 7, 2022. STR/AFP via Getty Images

However, in a bombshell report, Environmental Progress said that research carried out by Mr. Mariutti suggests the true carbon emissions are closer to 170 grams to 250 grams of CO2 per kWh—between three to five times higher than reported by the U.N.

“For 10 years, the @IPCC-CH has been presenting misleading evidence on the carbon intensity of photovoltaic energy,” Mr. Mariutti said in a Twitter post on July 24.

The IPCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the report based on independent calculations.

 Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.