August 3, 2026 | By Keith Martin in Washington, DC
The Federal Communications Commission added "foreign-produced power inverters" on July 27 to a "covered list" of products that cannot be imported or sold in the United States unless they have been granted conditional approval by the Department of Homeland Security or the US Department of War.
The ban does not apply to any inverter models that the FCC has previously authorized.
It does not apply to any "previously purchased devices."
It does not affect sales or use of inverters to or by the US military or other federal agencies.
It does not require inverters that are already installed to be removed from existing power plants.
Inverter manufacturers whose inverter models have not already been authorized for use in the US must apply to the Department of Homeland Security and US Department of War for conditional approvals. Inverters receiving such approvals can continue to be imported during a "transition period," presumably until a full ban takes effect.
The action on inverters follows a national security determination by an interagency task force yesterday that concluded that use of foreign-made inverters poses a national security risk. The task force said, without irony, that the action is necessary to prevent "disruption of the supply of power inverters" that could "compromise the United States' electricity supply and by extension threaten the economic prosperity and national security of the United States."
It said only 7% of US inverter shipments in 2020 came from US-headquartered manufacturers. Supplies of inverter components from foreign manufacturers also pose risks. The task force said foreign inverter manufacturers, particularly in China, may have the ability to cause inverters to "cut off solar power generation assets or add more power to the grid, leading to voltage and stability issues in the local distribution system, damaged and tripped equipment, and possibly a power outage."
Below are links to the national security determination, the public notice announcing the addition of foreign-made inverters to the covered list and an FCC fact sheet.
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-786A1.pdf
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-423682A1.pdf
https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/power-inverter-fcc-determination.pdf
The following are answers we received from the FCC today to questions about the ban.
The FCC said it has been inundated with questions and will be updating a list of frequently asked questions as answers become available. The FAQ page can be found at this link: https://www.fcc.gov/covered-list-faqs-robots-inverters
Q&A
Q: Is it correct that inverters that lack components to allow "remote communication, control, sensing, data collection, or monitoring through Wi-Fi, cellular, Bluetooth, or similar connections" do not require FCC authorization and, therefore, are not covered by the ban. The inverters may have a separate device -- an "external communication gateway" -- with its own FCC ID and authorization.
A: This makes sense based on the plain text of the definition of "power inverter." The FCC has asked for confirmation from the Department of War.
Q: Does it matter if remote communication and data collection are possible, but only through a wired connection and not a wireless one? Is there a distinction between "intentional radiators" -- devices that intentionally generate and emit radio frequency energy by radiation or induction -- that require FCC authorization and "unintentional radiators" do not require FCC authorization.
A: The FCC is working to get an answer from the Department of War.
Q: Future conditional approvals for new inverter models by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of War will be good only for a "transition period," presumably after which the new models will be banned. How long a transition period is expected?
A: Probably 18-24 months, but conditional approvals for some types of drones were extended under a different FCC ban to have no specific end date, so indefinite conditional approvals are possible.
Q: The ban does not apply to power inverters that have already been purchased. What does "already purchased" mean? For example, does the inverter have to have been delivered, or is it enough if a binding contract has been signed or purchase order issued? Must the purchase price have been paid? What if the purchase price is being paid by installments or as milestones are reached over time?
A: No answer yet.
Q: Are FCC authorizations for existing inverters good only for a limited time?
A: No. The authorizations do not expire.
Q: Is there a list online of inverters that are authorized currently?
A: There is no list, but customers can use the following link to look up whether specific inverters are authorized: https://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid
Q: Is there a rule of thumb for how much an existing model can be modified before it is considered new and requires reauthorization -- or, given the ban, a conditional approval?
A: The FCC Office of Engineering and Technology put out a public notice (https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-789A1.pdf) last week waiving some of its modification rules to allow software and firmware updates. Generally, any hardware updates require authorization, but software updates are permitted.
Q: Is it true that an inverter will not be considered US-made unless it contains at least 65% US content and is the Build America Buy America Act the place to look for how the US content is calculated?
A: Yes.
Q: Should project developers request an FCC document from inverter manufacturers to prove inverters have been authorized for use in the United States?
A: Determine whether the model contains wireless communications modules, cellular modems, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or another radio-frequency transmitter. Determine whether the inverter was certified and labelled for US regulatory compliance when it was shipped. Ask for the FCC ID for the inverter model.