The Trump administration is drafting a ban on imports of foreign inverters, which connect solar projects and batteries to the grid, over concerns China could use them to disrupt power supplies, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.
The rule being drafted by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission would apply to new foreign models of inverters and could be published as early as this year, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because the matter was not public.
The Trump administration was spurred to revive the effort in part by a decision by the European Commission in May to ban Chinese-made inverters from publicly funded energy projects, the five sources said, though they cautioned the U.S. proposal could still be modified or shelved altogether.
The FCC and the White House declined to comment on the draft measure. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it "firmly opposes the overstretching of the concept of national security and its unjustified suppression of Chinese companies," adding that the U.S. should provide "a fair, just and non-discriminatory environment" for Chinese businesses.
