Dutch study questions risk of hackers in PV inverters

Recently, a Dutch security researcher found that there are serious vulnerabilities in solar panels. If they are overcome, Europe may face power outages. For products such as solar roofs and solar-powered cars that are popular all over the world, this is undoubtedly worthy of attention.

Willem Westerhof, a cybersecurity researcher working at ITsec, found that power inverters, the core components of solar panels, are at risk of being hacked, just like other electronic products. Once these inverters are turned off, the entire power grid will lose balance and most parts of Europe will be in a blackout. To this end, Westerhof used a batch of 17 gigawatt inverters to prove that once hackers shut them down at the same time, the consequences will be disastrous.

Westhoff said that in 2006, due to a high-voltage line failure in Germany, Europe was in a state of blackout in many cities. The power grid only provided 5 gigawatts of reserve power, and cities such as Paris and New Delhi endured long blackouts. Once solar panels are manipulated, they will face more worrying consequences.

SMA, a global leader in photovoltaic inverters, denied the claim and said that there were no security issues with its inverters. SMA told the Dutch newspaper Volkszeitung that the vulnerability only existed in a certain range of products and that a technical fix was being carried out.

It is reported that while solar panels are hot, they also face some safety issues, and the inverter is just the tip of the iceberg. We look forward to more rigorous designs and safer products.