US blocks new authorizations for networked foreign solar inverters

The FCC added foreign networked inverters to its blocklist, halting new model authorizations in a market 93% supplied from abroad.

The FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau added foreign-produced power inverters to its Covered List, immediately banning new equipment authorizations for unapproved foreign models. The restriction targets networked inverters with remote communications, data transmission, or firmware update capabilities. Hardwired or air-gapped units without remote communication fall outside the scope, and models with prior FCC authorization can still be imported, sold, and installed.

The rationale is digital rather than physical. A Department of Energy analysis from January 2026 inspected 30 Chinese inverters and found zero evidence of malicious hardware, but the White House interagency council determined the risk lies in remote firmware updates. The action effectively overrides that hardware review. It uses the federal Buy American Standard, so it applies regardless of manufacturer nationality, and a foreign-owned firm doing final US assembly can clear authorization if it meets component value thresholds. A conditional pathway via DHS or Defense exists for suppliers committing to move assembly stateside and submit to audits.

The scale of the exposure is the reason this counts as friction. Domestic manufacturers supply just 7% of the US inverter market, leaving a 93% gap, while developers plan to connect more than 58,000 MW of new solar and storage over the next year. Constraining supply on security grounds tends to raise costs and slow deployment.

The caveats soften the near-term blow. An editor's note clarified the ban hits only new model authorizations, so most active builds relying on pre-approved models should see little immediate disruption. The pressure lands on future projects and next-generation hardware.

Source: pv magazine