Govt tightens cybersecurity norms for inverters used in rooftop solar scheme

Mint

5 days ago

Amid cybersecurity threats emanating from China, the Union new and renewable energy ministry has mandated all original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) supplying inverters under the 'PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana' to connect their inverters to the ministry's national servers and software platform.
The ministry will notify the date for implementation of the directive.
In a notification, the ministry said that the integration of 10 million rooftop solar systems under the scheme would also introduce challenges regarding grid stability and cybersecurity concerns.
It added that inverter communication modules that transmit data to servers outside India not only pose risks of unauthorized control but also threaten national energy sovereignty by exposing sensitive power consumption and generation data.
'All OEMs enlisted for supplying inverters under the PMSG: MBY scheme shall mandatorily connect their inverters directly to national servers and software managed by the ministry or any other agency designated by the ministry, with effect from the date to be notified,' it said.
Inverters are essential components of solar energy systems, as they convert the direct current (DC) generated by solar panels into alternating current (AC) that can be used by homes and businesses. They also facilitate the interaction between solar energy systems and the electrical grid, allowing the transmission of excess energy back into the grid.
The ministry held multiple rounds of deliberations with stakeholders to implement a framework to track the generation benefits of rooftop solar installations. The discussions also deliberated over centralization of rooftop solar data on a national software platform hosted on servers located in India and managed by the ministry or any other government agency, in a bid to ensure effective monitoring of millions of inverters aggregating large capacity and ensure grid security and stability.
The government has also mandated that all inverter communication devices, or dongles, or data loggers deployed under the scheme shall have machine-to-machine (M2M) SIM communication protocol to enable a secure and reliable data transmission.
The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana has been under implementation since February 2024, and as of 15 July, over 1,545,000 households have been covered under the scheme. Under the scheme, government plans to install rooftop solar systems on 10 million houses and add 30GW of solar power capacity.
The developments come in the backdrop of undocumented communication equipment found inside some Chinese-made inverter devices in May, raising security concerns.
In the past few years, the government has taken a number of steps to lower its dependence on Chinese imports in the renewable energy space. In this course, it has increased import duties on solar modules and cells and introduced incentives to boost local manufacturing of these products.