Make it illegal to have the servers outside the EU.
This is not sufficient: they will just use regional servers (which is probably what they do already). The real question is in ownership, who is in control, and that is much harder to regulate (think about middlemen). One thing to bypass the need of new regulations it is to give people ample information and let them vote with their wallet.
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One can argue that the whole dependency on Chinese hardware has been a mistake; if so, the problem is this cannot be easily changed. We have to live with the fact that hybrid inverters come from China, and even the few remaining European brands will have to depend on Chinese components.
However, what we totally
can prevent is the
information/control dependency over the lifetime of the products. These inverters work just fine under local control, disconnected from the internet, or connected to internet through independent third-party device, like ours.
By connecting the inverters into Chinese cloud, customers gain nice graphics (bogus made up data e.g. imaginary "savings" or some stupid "equivalent to trees planted" infographics), and installers gain a tool to remotely troubleshoot. By connecting to third-party device like our box, customers gain smart optimization (especially for battery inverters) which the manufacturer cannot provide. And also some status info through our app (production graphs, live power data), but not as much as the customized-only-for-that-inverter service of the manufacturer. So most installers want to wire up both our box and the Chinese cloud stick.
Some value these Chinese cloud opportunities more than others. We get first-hand idea of this from case Solis: unlike other inverters with two separate interfaces, Solis has chosen to double-purpose its sole RS485 port for their own datalogger and external control. Datalogger acts as RS485 master just like our box does, so it's either or, both cannot be connected. Many companies are completely happy to sell our box with Solis, giving up the Solis cloud; they see more value in our box. For others, this is a showstopper; they want the Solis cloud (even when it cannot do energy optimization) so much they are eager to give up the control and optimization opportunities from our box so choose not to sell it. Which I find insane, but that's my biased perspective.
But anyway, if we look at the happenings such as Chinese ships sabotaging our energy and communication infrastructure (which is actually a war crime as it aims civilian infrastructure, but let's not worry about such minor details
) and our neighbor threatening to nuke us all day long (there is nothing new in that, just that we have started listening), I'm pretty surprised how easily homeowners and PV system install companies are accepting increasing part of our energy infrastructure being under direct control by Chinese companies, like they can just shut down these expensive investments with a simple flip of a switch, and as Deye has demonstrated, will actually use that opportunity willy-nilly; I'm certain Deye has no political motivation but something related to their distribution chains where they have painted themselves into a corner; but they do well demonstrate how this technology can be used for political reasons in the future.
So TLDR I'm not too happy about the Chinese dominance to produce goods, but that is inevitable and I have nothing against doing such business; but I think letting them in full control remotely after the ownership has transferred, without very strong reasons to do so, is totally nuts and we should absolutely stop doing that
just in case because the risk vs. benefit factors are very different compared to just buying goods: at least the inverter is of good value, and the risk is mostly us not getting more in the future. Versus the cloud, little tiny bit of added value plus risk of shutting down 'em all any time, for any reason whatsoever.
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