President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency prohibiting the use of energy transmission technologies produced in a select group of countries on the grounds of national security risk to American infrastructure.
Trump issued an executive order yesterday prohibiting imports and installation of “bulk-power” technologies used in electrical distribution moving forward. Bulk-power technologies are defined as “facilities and control systems necessary for operating an interconnected electric energy transmission network,” the order states. This also includes transmission lines rated at 69 kV or higher.
The order claims that this will not affect systems distributing energy locally, but how this will affect utility-scale renewable energy projects is still unclear. There is a laundry list of electrical power system components subjected to this ban, including components possibly used in renewable energy projects: substation transformers, “utility-scale and other grid-connected inverters” and battery energy storage systems. The ban also affects the software necessary for operating them.
While it is focused on future imports, the order empowers the Dept. of Energy’s secretary, Chris Wright, to designate existing “bulk-power” systems as security risks; and it can retroactively require updating components on operating energy distribution systems.
The order claims that using these technologies from these countries pose a cybersecurity risk — that “such equipment might have digital backdoors built into their systems that allow a foreign country to access that equipment remotely,” it reads.
The countries affected by this ban are those under a national arms embargo and listed on the International Traffic in Arms Regulation, which prohibits imports of defense-related materials. The order essentially classifies these energy transmission technologies as defense materials. Those countries affected by the ban are: Afghanistan, Belarus, Congo, the Central African Republic, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
Trump rationalized the national emergency through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and National Emergencies Act. The IEEPA has historically dealt with more direct economic concerns, but this is the second time Trump has cited the act in an energy-related national emergency, according to past filings. The first also centered on energy security, and ordered expanding the United States’ production of other energy sources, namely fossil fuels.