Europe’s Inverter Security Debate Is Under Way but Far From Settled, SolarEdge Says

Cybersecurity has become what Pascal de Boor, SolarEdge’s European director, calls the “most interesting driver of change” shaping the continent’s solar supply chain politics. Speaking to pv Europe, de Boor described a clear European trend toward scrutinising suppliers from high-risk countries — China chief among them — over concerns that critical infrastructure could be compromised by parties capable of doing so.

Yet de Boor was careful to separate political momentum from enacted policy. No blanket EU ban on Chinese inverters exists. The regulatory process is at an early stage: the European Commission has decided not to fund projects using Chinese inverters from funds under its direct control, but broader legislative action has not followed. Drawing on the 5G rollout as a possible model, de Boor outlined stages that could eventually come — a formal European Parliament proposal, a directive, and transposition into national law — but emphasised that the inverter debate has not yet reached any of those steps.

As a manufacturer with production based in the United States, SolarEdge acknowledges the potential upside if restrictions on Chinese suppliers tighten. The company has reorganised its team of around 350 European employees to focus on seven markets: Germany, Austria, Italy, the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, France, and Poland. Factory construction in Europe is not planned; instead, the company is scaling capacity in the US.

De Boor also identified artificial intelligence energy demand as a strategic challenge. Estimates he cited indicate that the five largest global hyperscalers could be running roughly 100 GW of infrastructure in the US by 2028, with new data centres potentially representing around 10 percent of global electricity demand in a single year. SolarEdge is preparing to launch Sera, an AI platform for energy consumption and advisory services that the company says can deliver up to €1,000 in annual benefit through more favourable tariffs and market pricing.

Source: pv Europe