Chinese power storage system installed at key Marine base in North Carolina, FDD says
As originally appeared on Nikkei Assia.
U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Andrew Niebel, center, attends a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a battery storage system at the Camp Lejeune base in North Carolina on April 13. CATL’s logo is clearly visible in the background. (U.S. Marine Corps photo)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government should scrutinize and potentially limit Chinese battery maker CATL’s joint ventures and partnerships with American companies, especially in sectors deemed critical to national security, according to a report released Monday by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The Washington-based conservative think tank cited the battery storage system at U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina as an example of how CATL devices have penetrated American infrastructure.
Camp Lejeune’s 11 miles of beaches make it an ideal training ground for amphibious operations. The base is home to units tasked with evacuating noncombatants from Taiwan, should China decide to invade.
A new battery storage system was installed at the base earlier this year. Touted as the largest battery storage project in North Carolina, it was led by local company Duke Energy. The news release did not spell out that the battery cells were supplied by CATL. But the Chinese company’s logo is clearly visible in official photos.
“CATL’s deep ties to America’s electrical grids without stringent oversight is a looming national security blind spot,” said Craig Singleton, deputy director of FDD’s China program and the author of the report.
“Just as Huawei sought control in telecom, CATL is strategically positioning itself to dominate our electric future,” Singleton told Nikkei Asia. “It’s a playbook we’ve seen before.”
Fujian-based CATL, formally Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., is the world’s largest maker of midsize and large batteries for electrified vehicles. It accounts for roughly one-third of installed capacity in electrified vehicles. In addition to supplying Tesla and General Motors, it will provide technology and workers to Ford’s planned $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan.
Sailors, Marines and British soldiers offload equipment from a landing craft during a drill at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. (U.S. Navy photo) Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have written to Ford CEO Jim Farley, seeking documents on the automaker’s partnership with CATL. Ford has paused work on the new plant.
The FDD report, “Beijing’s Power Play: Safeguarding U.S. National Security in the Electric Vehicle and Battery Industries,” notes that it is imperative for policymakers to safeguard American critical infrastructure and national interests, “even if doing so temporarily impedes some near-term renewable energy goals.”
Even more troubling to FDD than CATL’s commanding position in electric vehicles, and the U.S. dependence on such technologies, is CATL’s provision of large-scale power storage stations for American power utilities, such as at Camp Lejeune.
“Sophisticated, sometimes undetectable malware on these energy storage stations could pose a threat to the industrial control systems connected to the U.S. energy grid,” the report warned. “In a worst-case scenario, an attack on these control systems could result in widespread blackouts impacting industrial centers or financial hubs. While there is no evidence to date that any of these risks have materialized, it is essential to proactively acknowledge and address them.”
The Ningde-based company employs more than 80,000 people and operates 13 battery-manufacturing bases worldwide, including in Germany and Hungary. Its U.S. subsidiary is based in Michigan.
“CATL batteries have already been installed at generation facilities in Florida, Virginia, Nevada, and California as well as a solar farm on leased land inside Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina,” the report said.
FDD noted that while the U.S. Federal Highway Administration requires states to implement “appropriate” cyber solutions for charging networks, the federal government lets states draft their own strategies. “The result is a patchwork of approaches with limited oversight and no cohesive national framework,” it said.
The report’s recommendations include empowering the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to potentially limit or condition CATL’s investments in critical sectors and mandating stringent security reviews before granting operational licenses to Chinese companies operating in the U.S. energy sector.
It also proposes mandatory federal reporting requirements for U.S. companies entering joint ventures or other collaborations with CATL or similar entities.
Eric Sayers, a managing director at consulting firm Beacon Global Strategies, said Washington’s concern over relying on China for mining, processing and producing batteries for electric vehicles “is only half the story.” How batteries have become central to modern electric grids and how they are already being deployed across the U.S. deserves more attention, said Sayers, a nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
“This issue is ripe for bipartisan oversight,” he said. The House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, chaired by Rep. Mike Gallagher, may broaden its oversight to energy storage solutions from China as it has with EV batteries, Sayers said.
“This issue is also a great way to discuss options for alliance-shoring because many of the alternatives to Chinese batteries are being developed by Japanese and South Korean firms,” Sayers said. “This is a topic the U.S. and Japan should discuss at the next 2+2 economic security dialogue.”
