The EU is moving ahead with a plan to restrict financing of PV projects using inverters from high-risk suppliers, citing cybersecurity concerns and issuing new guidelines to phase them out. Some projects linked to the EU network will be subject to a transition period, while others will have to exclude such suppliers by 2027.
The EU has moved forward with a plan to stop financing PV projects built with inverters supplied by high-risk suppliers.
The move was initially reported by the German news channel The Mirrorstating that the measure will take effect immediately.
“We are already facing concrete risks that require immediate mitigation,” a European Commission spokesperson said pv magazine. “To this end, the Commission has developed guidelines on limiting the use of EU funds for projects involving inverters from high-risk suppliers.”
The directive requires all EU-funded projects to comply with the latest cybersecurity standards, with the aim of phasing out high-risk suppliers.
“For projects connected or planned to be connected to the EU grid (both inside and outside the EU), a transition period is provided for projects already in the pipeline, provided they are notified to the Commission by 1 May and submitted for decision before 1 November,” the spokesperson added. “All other projects must exclude high-risk suppliers.”
For projects outside the EU that are not connected or planned to be connected to the EU grid, inverters from high-risk suppliers must be phased out by April 15, 2027.
“Targeted deviations are provided, such as in cases of delays of more than a year or other overriding political or security considerations,” the spokesperson said, without providing further details.
In January, the European Commission started revising its Cybersecurity Act. Presenting the proposals in the European Parliament, the commission’s Executive Vice-President for Technical Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said that reliance on a very limited number of solar inverter suppliers “could pose a significant security risk.”
Earlier in December, a safety doctrine published by the European Commission identified solar inverters as a high-risk dependency.
Last year, SolarPower Europe published a report on cybersecurity issues surrounding solar energy installations in the European Union.
Since then, the Dutch government has said it will remain vigilant against potential cybersecurity threats from solar inverters, while Lithuania has already banned Chinese remote access to management systems of solar, wind and storage facilities. In addition, the Czech Cyber Security Agency said that Chinese solar inverters in small power plants pose a potential security threat.
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