The growth of renewable energy systems spurred by government incentives, especially unregulated power, has led the FBI to issue a warning about hackers.
The government law enforcement agency indicated that private ownership of renewable power systems is expanding rapidly in the U.S. due to government incentives like the Inflation Reduction Act.
The FBI also said that while hacks against residential solar power have been"rare historically," microgrids — which local communities operate independent of a traditional utility — could also be vulnerable to attack. The EIA estimates that 73.62 billion kilowatts of electricity generation in 2023 came from small solar systems where the power is consumed locally.
Solar Energy Industries Association, the major trade group for solar power in the U.S., said it has been focused on cybersecurity efforts in recent years, including a 2021 virtual summit it co-hosted with the Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office to advise solar companies on best practices.
The FBI notice pointed to the risk in the solar power operational technology software and hardware, with hackers able to gain control over solar panels through equipment called an inverter, which converts direct current energy into alternating current electricity that can be consumed. Inverters connected to the internet, in particular, could be controlled by hackers to reduce output or overheat home energy systems.
China has heavily subsidized its clean energy industry and many equipment manufacturers are based there — or technology sourced from other nations passes through China for final assembly — which could give a foreign nation access to U.S. power grids because of the widespread use of these components. Traditional power sources that have been in place for years have protocols that have been tested and are under other strict security regulations, Guinn said. However, renewables can't be assigned the same level of resiliency because they are newer technologies with less testing history.
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