BRUSSELS — The EU’s most influential solar panel lobbying group reinstated Huawei’s membership just months after it expelled the Chinese company over its alleged involvement in a bribery and corruption scandal.
As part of the reinstatement, SolarPower Europe’s top executive insisted that Huawei would not be allowed to “actively participate” in the lobbying group’s activities to not run afoul of the EU’s ban on meeting with Huawei lobbyists.
The conditions were imposed on Huawei to “ensure that SPE maintains unrestricted access to authorities and other stakeholders and can conduct its activities without limitation,” SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger said in an email to SPE’s members that was seen by POLITICO. “This includes not participating in SPE workstreams or the Advocacy Committee,” which sets the lobby’s key policies.
But at the same contentious Sept. 29 meeting during which Huawei was reinstated, SPE’s board of directors also failed to adopt an externally written position paper recommending the European Union limit Huawei’s access to the bloc’s energy grid, according to two current and one former official working for separate solar panel manufacturers who spoke on condition of being granted anonymity over fears of retaliation for speaking out.
Hemetsberger told POLITICO that Huawei was reinstated “following further clarifications provided by the European Commission and Huawei,” adding the company is now a “passive member.”
The Commission did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication on whether these restrictions create enough distance to continue meeting with SPE amid the ban on Huawei lobbyists.
The lobby denied the energy grid position paper was rejected, saying that the board instead reconfirmed its support for an internally produced report on the cybersecurity risks to Europe’s grid.
However, that report did not include any mention of China in its executive summary, while an earlier draft seen by POLITICO laid out risks the country and its companies are said to pose to the energy grid.
The conflict over Huawei’s lobbying role in Brussels is part of a much broader concern about the influence that Chinese companies — and the Chinese government — wield over crucial technologies like renewable energy, 5G telecom infrastructure, electric vehicle batteries and more. The EU has been trying to limit that influence, particularly after the United States blacklisted Huawei and designated it a national security threat.
Huawei did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
In March, Huawei was banned from the European Parliament and from meeting with the European Commission after Belgian authorities accused the company of conducting a cash-for-influence scheme, bribing MEPs with gifts, luxurious trips and cash to ensure the policymakers would support Huawei’s interests as it faced pushback across the continent.
As part of the investigation, authorities raided 21 addresses in March and charged four people on counts of corruption and criminal organization.
Huawei maintained it has a “zero-tolerance stance against corruption” and fired two employees over their alleged involvement in the bribery investigation.
A national security threat
While Huawei is best known for its work in the telecommunication sector, it’s also a leader in manufacturing inverters, which transform variable electricity current from solar panels into alternating current that can be fed into the grid. Researchers estimate that Chinese companies control 65 percent of the EU’s solar power, with Huawei holding the biggest market share.
Cybersecurity experts and European manufacturers say Huawei and others could use the devices to hack into Europe’s power grid — and potentially turn it off.
“The Chinese have remote access to all these devices. And remote access means they can completely control the device remotely from China, and they can shut it down,” Erika Langerová, the head of cybersecurity research at the Prague-based UCEEB energy institute with the Czech Technical University, said in a media briefing hosted by the U.S. Mission to the EU in September.
By introducing malicious firmware, a company could disable safety protections or cooling fans and other measures, Langerová said.
New sector, old tricks
Huawei was a regular fixture in Brussels’ lobbying circles for over a decade, throwing lavish parties, and was seen as a friendly entity in European policy circles. That changed in 2019, when Huawei came under the microscope over security and espionage concerns in its 5G mobile networks.
To counter the shifting attitudes, Huawei offered six-figure salaries to lure in journalists and politicians to lobby on its behalf, but failed to stop the Commission from taking a more cautious approach to using Huawei’s 5G equipment.
Huawei hit back against the move, saying there is no evidence its equipment poses a security threat.
As part of the fallout from the cash-for-influence allegations, the Commission announced in April that it would no longer meet with organizations lobbying on Huawei’s behalf, leading to the company’s expulsion from SolarPower Europe.
Continued access
In September, SPE’s board moved to readmit the company, but set guidelines for its role in the lobby.
While Huawei is not actively participating in the group’s work, one of the manufacturing officials said minutes are created and disseminated after every meeting with the Commission and other policymakers, which remain available to Huawei.
“They have full access to the reports,” the person said, adding that other companies that are distributors for the Chinese firm are still allowed to participate and advocate for Huawei’s interests.
SPE said in a response to POLITICO that Huawei “will not be entitled to receive any documents or other information prepared for or exchanged during meetings with representatives of any European Institution.”
During the Sept. 29 meeting, a group of Western solar panel manufacturers and distributors put forward the external position paper, seen by POLITICO, they had written that included a call for Europe to duplicate the 5G “toolbox” — measures to stop the 5G telecom networks from being hacked — for the solar industry “to reduce China’s influence in the electricity grid.”
The European Commission is currently reviewing the EU energy security framework to tackle hacking and other cyber risks in the energy grid and is soliciting feedback until Oct. 13. The Western manufacturers wanted the position paper to be included in SolarPower Europe’s consultation with the Commission.
The SPE’s decision to not adopt the position paper on risks to the energy grid wasn’t the first time the lobby’s actions favored the powerful Chinese company.
SPE also commissioned a study on the solar industry’s cybersecurity risks. An earlier draft of that report, seen by POLITICO, lays out the close ties between companies and the Chinese government, with the firms acting at the behest of government officials, including in carrying out cyberattacks. The draft warned that just one compromised company connected to Europe’s grid could turn off a sizeable portion of the EU’s power.
The final report removed all mention of China in the executive summary.
The second manufacturing official said the solar cybersecurity report was “helpful in pointing to the general problem,” but the “interpretation and framing of it was politically watered down by the board to not point at China as the main problem.”
The solar lobby maintains Huawei has no influence over its policy positions.
SPE’s board of directors include European companies that have partnerships with Huawei, companies that count China as their largest market or are distributors of Huawei’s inverters.
Of SPE’s 20 directors, eight have direct connections with Huawei or close Chinese ties. One board member is the director of Chinese solar panel manufacturer TrinaSolar.
As one of three top-tier members of SPE, Huawei pays €60,000 a year in membership fees. But that’s not the only money it spends.
It can funnel money “through the sponsorship of events organized by SolarPower Europe,” the third manufacturing official said. “So they have clout through funding.”
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