WASHINGTON — Greater than 50 Home Republicans are calling on the Division of Commerce to limit imports of Chinese language-made electrical grid parts, warning that continued reliance on gear from “adversarial nations” poses a rising menace to U.S. nationwide safety.
In a letter despatched Friday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, lawmakers raised alarm over the increasing use of Chinese language-manufactured photo voltaic and battery inverters, utility-scale parts, and different applied sciences they are saying could possibly be exploited to compromise the U.S. electrical grid.
“We urge the Division of Commerce to behave swiftly to safeguard our grid and power infrastructure from Chinese language-made crucial grid parts and power applied sciences that pose a extreme menace to the security of our constituents,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter, led by Rep. August Pfluger, cites what members describe as a harmful overreliance on foreign-produced gear amid rising electrical energy demand pushed by synthetic intelligence, new knowledge facilities, and industrial progress.
The lawmakers referenced the Division of Power’s 2025 Useful resource Adequacy Report, which warns that projected retirements of present energy era mixed with fast load progress may drastically enhance the chance of outages over the subsequent decade.
The GOP lawmakers additionally pointed to a Reuters investigation earlier this yr that discovered Chinese language-manufactured photo voltaic parts deployed throughout the U.S. contained undisclosed communication units. Specialists interviewed in that report warned that compromised {hardware} may permit distant entry, bypass cybersecurity protections, and probably allow malicious actors to disrupt giant sections of the U.S. grid.
Moreover, the lawmakers cited “a rising physique of Chinese language educational analysis” detailing strategies for hacking and destabilizing Western energy methods, arguing that the presence of Chinese language-origin gear on U.S. infrastructure creates pointless vulnerabilities.
“Rising our reliance on China for inverters and important grid gear is a mistake, particularly as we’ve ample provide domestically and from allied nations that may not expose our nationwide safety to unacceptable dangers,” the letter states.
The group urged Commerce to make use of its authority to dam future imports of Chinese language grid applied sciences, saying such motion would align with President Donald Trump’s energy-security agenda and efforts to strengthen home provide chains.
“We stand able to work with you and your crew to make sure the safety and resilience of our grid,” the lawmakers wrote.
The Commerce Division has not publicly responded to the request.
The letter was signed by a broad coalition of Home Republicans, together with Reps. Ben Cline, Troy Balderson, Zach Nunn, Randy Weber, Roger Williams, Bob Latta, Richard Hudson, Dan Crenshaw, Jay Obernolte, Laurel Lee, Scott Franklin, Mary Miller, Gregory Steube, Joe Wilson, Jeff Hurd and dozens of others.
