CATL, the manufacturer of the large batteries, hits back, saying its products have passed US safety and security reviews.
US China rivalry is seeping into its trade and businesses as well Dental Surgical Drape Packs Wholesale Supplier
U.S.-based utility company Duke Energy confirmed on Wednesday that it had disconnected large-scale batteries at the North Carolina Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune over security fears. The batteries were installed earlier in April this year.
Large-scale battery installations are the need of the hour in parts of the U.S. as the country transitions to greener renewable sources of energy. These utility-scale battery packs can store large amounts of excess energy generated by solar and wind farms and supply it to the grid when required.
Installation of these batteries has also seen an uptick after tax incentives provided by the U.S. government. China leads the world in the production of these battery packs, and manufacturers like CATL, which also supply batteries for electric vehicles, have access to U.S. markets and supply them where required.
CATL responded to a similar requirement at Camp Lejeune, and the utility provider Duke Energy confirmed that the batteries had gone online in April this year.
The announcement evoked strong criticism from more than twenty Republican lawmakers, and in a letter sent to U.S. Secretary of Defense, Llyod Austin last week, Senator Marco Rubio called for an immediate reversal of the decision, Reuters reported.
Earlier in November, Democratic senators had also raised similar concerns with the Department of Energy (DOE) and stressed prioritizing US-developed energy storage solutions. In addition to the opposition to the Chinese monopoly in battery technology, lawmakers are also concerned about substantial vulnerabilities to “defense and economic security.”
Lawmakers have highlighted that frequent remote operation and telecommunications equipment on these batteries make them vulnerable to hacking attempts. A DOE report released last year highlighted that hackers had turned to hardware and software suppliers to add “backdoor capabilities for unauthorized access and control,” the Reuters report added.
Experts have suggested that coordinated attacks on such infrastructure could potentially knock out U.S. energy grids. Moreover, CATL’s founder and largest shareholder, Zeng Yuqun, has links with the Chinese Communist Party, paving the way for Beijing to exert influence and control over the company’s personnel, operations, and data.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Duke Energy said that it had conferred with the region’s lawmakers and decided to disconnect the batteries of these concerns. The company maintained that the project design had ensured that the batteries did not connect to the Camp Lejeune network in any way. It also did not divulge when exactly the batteries were disconnected or how long it planned to keep them offline.
In a statement, CATL responded by stating that recent claims about its batteries were false and misleading and its energy storage products in the U.S. carried only “passive” devices that did not function as communication interfaces.
Products supplied to U.S. markets have undergone safety and security scrutiny by U.S. authorities and businesses, and neither do its products or businesses collect, sell, or share data in any way.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington also told Reuters that China opposed the U.S.’ “politicizing trade and investment cooperation.”
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Disposable Supplies Ameya Paleja Ameya is a science writer based in Hyderabad, India. A Molecular Biologist at heart, he traded the micropipette to write about science during the pandemic and does not want to go back. He likes to write about genetics, microbes, technology, and public policy.