Concerns over secret Huawei solar power kill switches in South Africa

Concerns have been raised about whether Huawei can remotely switch off the inverters it supplies to solar power providers globally, including South Africa.

This comes after Reuters reported last week that rogue communications devices were found in Chinese-made solar power inverters.

Undocumented communication devices, including cellular radios, were also found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers.

The report did not explicitly name Huawei as one of the impacted manufacturers. However, it highlighted that Huawei is the world’s largest supplier of inverters.

Energy industry analytics firm Wood Mackenzie reports that Huawei accounted for 29% of global shipments in 2022.

In addition to its utility-grade equipment, Huawei sells the Power-M combination inverter and battery pack in South Africa.

The Huawei Power-M competes against the likes of Tesla’s Powerwall and the Freedom Won Lite in South Africa.

While it is common for inverters to offer remote access, the companies that use them typically put them behind firewalls.

This allows customers to update or control their inverters over the Internet while blocking unauthorised traffic to or from the devices.

Undocumented and undisclosed communications equipment that allows manufacturers to sidestep firewalls is a major concern.

Experts warn that being able to switch off inverters remotely or even change their settings could destabilise power grids, leading to a total blackout and damage to other energy infrastructure.

There is also the danger that malicious actors could discover and exploit the backdoors.

Since customers could not test or audit the security of these backdoors, they would not be able to mitigate the risk.

One of Reuters’ sources warned that having a remote kill switch means affected inverters effectively have a built-in way to physically destroy the grid.

As a result of these discoveries, U.S. energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices.

Previous warnings

This is not the first time security concerns about Huawei’s residential and utility-scale energy products have been raised.

In 2019, several U.S. senators from across the political divide wrote a letter to the Secretaries of Energy and Homeland Security voicing their concern.

“Huawei has recently become the world’s largest maker of inverters,” the senators wrote.

Their letter came shortly after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security placed Huawei on its Entity List.

Specifically, it blocked Huawei from selling its telecommunications equipment in the U.S. and dealing with U.S. companies.

This banned Google from providing Huawei with its apps and services, which many Android users expect on smartphones.

As a result, Huawei’s smartphone market share in countries like South Africa stagnated and then declined rapidly.

The senators wanted former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to impose similar restrictions on Huawei’s energy products.

“Both large-scale photovoltaic systems and those used by homeowners, school districts, and businesses are equally vulnerable to cyberattacks,” they wrote.

“Our federal government should consider a ban on the use of Huawei inverters in the United States and work with state and local regulators to raise awareness and mitigate potential threats.”

In response, Huawei denied that its inverters were a cybersecurity threat and assured that its products complied with U.S. cybersecurity rules.

“Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, U.S. and EU,” it said.

MyBroadband contacted Huawei in South Africa to comment on the latest allegations regarding its inverters, but it did not provide feedback by publication.