Officials in the Trump administration are reportedly drafting a ban on solar inverters from Chinese companies, according to a report by Reuters citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the plans.
The proposed restrictions, which are being drafted by the Federal Communications Commission, would block the use of Chinese-manufactured inverters in energy projects within the United States, and could be published as early as this year.
Sources said the measure is being developed in response to growing cybersecurity concerns, as policymakers seek to protect the nation’s critical power grid and renewable energy infrastructure from potential foreign interference.
In response to requests for comment, the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. told Reuters it “firmly opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and its unjustified suppression of Chinese companies.” The embassy also called for “a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment” for Chinese businesses.
The move comes after a similar ban was enacted in Europe on April 23. While the European Commission didn’t ban all inverters originating from specific countries, it did develop rules restricting the use of EU funds for projects involving inverters from “high-risk” suppliers, which effectively ended funding for products from Chinese companies.
The European move was also met with harsh words from Chinese officials. A statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) read: “The EU’s designation of China as a ‘high-risk country’ will undermine mutual trust between China and the EU, disrupt bilateral economic and trade cooperation, destabilize industrial and supply chains both within the China–EU context and globally, and even carry the risk of decoupling and further supply chain disruption.”
In an earlier action, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) added several prominent Chinese energy storage companies to its list of designated “Chinese military companies.” The list of companies includes CATL, BYD, JA Solar, Trina Solar, Three Gorges and Huawei. The additions mean the DOD will be banned from doing business with the named companies beginning in 2027.
Experts say the cybersecurity concerns around equipment like inverters is not without merit, but add that bans won’t be the final word on shoring up security. In a recent op-ed for pv magazine Global, SolarDefend CEO Uri Sadot said that the focus of European lawmakers should be on creating “clear technical standards rooted in zero-trust principles and applied consistently across the sector.”
Regardless of the EU ban or a future U.S. ban on Chinese inverters, existing solar installations across the world run on Chinese hardware, and even U.S.-based manufacturers use many Chinese components in building their products.
In 2025, Reuters broke a story about hidden devices allegedly discovered inside Chinese inverters, with anonymous sources claiming that U.S. experts had found “rogue communication devices” not listed in product documents in some Chinese solar inverters.
Early this year, authorities from the U.S. Department of Energy said they found no evidence of malicious or intentional differences in communications while inspecting a group of approximately 30 inverters following the initial reports. However, the DOE warned that supply chain threats persist, and the “complexity of inverter supply chains” could create opportunities for cybersecurity breaches and malicious components.
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