Securing Distributed Energy Resources: Solar, Wind, Storage and EV Charging

Why DER Changes the Risk Picture

Traditional generation concentrated risk in a handful of large, well-defended sites. Distributed energy resources invert that: capacity is spread across thousands of solar inverters, turbines, battery systems and chargers, most managed remotely through vendor clouds and mobile apps. Individually each is small, but aggregated through a virtual power plant or aggregator, a coordinated compromise could affect meaningful grid capacity. The attack surface is wider, more internet-facing and more dependent on third parties than ever.

• Capacity is distributed across thousands of small assets
• Most are cloud-managed and internet-connected by default
• Aggregation means small assets can matter at grid scale
• Third-party platforms and apps own much of the control path

Solar and Wind Farm Security

Solar and wind sites combine OT, such as inverters and turbine controllers, with cloud-based monitoring and remote maintenance. The same fundamentals apply as in any OT estate: segment the control network, eliminate direct internet exposure, and put MFA-protected, monitored access in front of every remote-management path. Particular attention belongs on inverter and controller firmware, which has repeatedly been found to ship with default credentials and exposed management interfaces.

• Segment inverter and turbine control networks from IT
• Remove internet exposure of management interfaces
• Change default credentials and harden firmware
• Govern vendor remote maintenance with MFA and session logging

Battery Storage and EV Charging

Battery energy storage systems and EV charging infrastructure add their own exposure. Chargers are public-facing devices on the internet, often using protocols such as OCPP that have had authentication weaknesses, and they connect to back-end platforms that handle payments and grid signals. Storage systems concentrate fast-responding capacity that an attacker could try to manipulate. Securing both means hardening the device, securing the back-end platform, and protecting the communication between them.

• Treat public chargers as hostile-environment, internet-facing devices
• Secure OCPP and back-end platform communications
• Protect payment and grid-signalling pathways
• Monitor battery storage controls for anomalous dispatch commands

Managing the Third-Party and Supply-Chain Risk

Because so much of DER is operated through vendor clouds, third-party risk management is central rather than optional. Operators need assurance over the security of the platforms controlling their assets, clear contractual security obligations, and visibility of the internet-facing exposure those vendors create on their behalf. The aggregator or virtual power plant layer deserves particular scrutiny, since it can issue commands across many assets at once.

• Assess the security of vendor and aggregator platforms
• Set contractual security and notification obligations
• Map the internet-facing exposure vendors create
• Scrutinise aggregation layers that can command many assets

How Kyanite Blue and Hadrian Help

Kyanite Blue helps DER operators get visibility and control over a sprawling, internet-facing estate. Hadrian continuous attack surface management discovers exposed inverters, chargers, controllers and management interfaces from the attacker perspective, including the third-party platforms operating on your behalf, so you find weaknesses before adversaries do. We then prioritise the exposures that matter, harden remote access, and build the third-party assurance process that distributed, cloud-managed generation demands.

Frequently Asked Questions