Huawei’s sales of solar equipment in the US threaten the entire American electricity grid, members of Congress have warned, in the latest rift between US politicians and the Chinese company. Both Democrats and Republicans have said that Huawei solar equipment could be hacked to allow a third party to slow or even interrupt US electricity supplies. Their warnings come just six weeks after Canadian officials arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, in Vancouver on US charges of breaking sanctions against Iran. The move has exacerbated trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Tom Marino, a Democratic representative from Pennsylvania, wrote to Rick Perry, US energy secretary,saying he was “concerned that the company’s entrance into large-scale and residential solar markets may pose a threat to our nation’s infrastructure”.
FT 17th Jan 2019 read more »
The continuing growth in renewable energy around the world is set to boost the power of China while undermining the influence of major oil exporters such as Russia and Middle East states like Saudi Arabia, according to a new report on the geopolitical implications of the changing energy landscape. With a leading position in renewable energy output as well as in related technologies such as electric vehicles, Beijing now finds itself in an influential position which other countries may struggle to counter. “No country has put itself in a better position to become the world’s renewable energy superpower than China,” says the report, which was issued by the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation – a group chaired by a former president of Iceland, Olafur Grimsson.
Forbes 11th Jan 2019 read more »
