Germany’s political system and social cohesion could be threatened if Chinese turbines are installed in the country, according to a report by authorities in the country.
According to Politico, which has seen the report commissioned by the German defence minister, Beijing could purposefully delay projects, harvest sensitive data and remotely shut down turbines if given access to wind farms.
The report also advises the country to stop an existing wind project using Chinese turbines from going ahead.
“When using systems or components from Chinese manufacturers … given the political situation, it can even be assumed that such a slowdown or even disruption would be deliberately used by China as a means of political pressure or even as an instrument of economic warfare,” stated the report, prepared last month by the German Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies think tank.
“A destabilization of both the political system, the business model of German industry and social cohesion cannot therefore be ruled out due to a lack of or insufficient planning security in the energy sector,” it added.
The EU has begun “cracking down” on Chinese wind suppliers after suspecting them of receiving state subsidies to beat European competitors for EU projects, according to Politico.
Last year, the European Commission, the EU’s executive, began investigating Beijing-linked wind projects in Bulgaria, France, Greece, Romania and Spain.
Quoted in the Politico article, Andrea Scassola, vice president of wind research at the Rystad consultancy, said: “What we are seeing … is intensifying great power rivalry, and at a time when our world is more interconnected than it has ever been – it’s a magnifier of vulnerability and risks.”
Overdependence on China also raises the risk of cyberattacks that could “lead to a shutdown of production,” Scassola added.
The report makes similar warning, where Beijing could delay the operation of new farms by “at least four to five years” between the planning approval and commissioning stages and could coordinate other disruptive efforts with Russia.
Chinese suppliers would also have access to computer programmes that control active turbines and collect data from hundreds of radars built into farms, the report stated.
The report surmised that this access would hand China “considerable blackmail potential in the future”.
Germany’s defence ministry declined to comment on the report.
Last year, project developer Luxcara announced it had selected Mingyang Smart Energy to supply 16 turbines for its Waterkant offshore wind farm in north-west Germany.