Our colleagues from RTL Radio asked SOLER about the exact nature of the cyberattack and the impact on Luxembourg's wind energy.
25 out of 31 wind turbines operated by the Luxembourgish company SOLER fell victim to a cyberattack on 24 February. While they still work, the wind turbines can no longer be controlled remotely.
The cyberattack is reported to have targeted and shut down a satellite. This satellite operated, among other things, wind turbines belonging to the German energy producer Enercon. SOLER operates wind turbines owned by this producer in Luxembourg. The connection to the 25 which were equipped with this satellite control software has now been disrupted. Nevertheless, they still work, as SOLER Director Paul Zeimet explained.
According to Zeimet, the turbines operate "automatically and are completely autonomous". For this reason, there is "no impact on the operation of the turbines".
On the other hand, communication with the turbines is currently disrupted, as the manufacturer's modem crashed as a result of the cyberattack, Zeimet explained. The modem must now be reconfigured to re-establish the connection.
This also requires some work on the turbines themselves. According to Zeimet, Enercon are sending out their own teams, but SOLER is also lending some assistance.
Zeimet stressed that this is "a new situation" and something the company has "never experienced before". It is unclear how long it will take to re-establish remote control. Moving forward, SOLER might assess the option to access the turbines via the mobile phone network, Zeimet stated.
