U.S. grid system.
Data show that at least 200 large transformers made in China are currently on the U.S. grid. And 10 percent of New York City’s electricity, runs through Chinese transformers.
On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed 17 executive orders on his first day in office, including a revocation of former President Trump‘s order banning the import and use of foreign equipment that poses a national security threat to the U.S. power system.
Biden’s move has raised concerns. Experts said President Biden should review the loopholes and remove Chinese-made transformers and other products from the U.S. power grid.
U.S. imports 300 large transformers from China at least 200 into the U.S. power grid
According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the United States imported 300 “liquid dielectric transformers with a power handling capacity of more than 10,000 kVA” from China between 2006 and 2019.
Retired U.S. Army Commander Major Michael Mabee said on his personal website that at least 200 of the 300 large Chinese-made transformers have entered the U.S. power grid. Some other transformers may have been purchased by large industrial companies. But what is certain is that most of the 300 large Chinese power transformers are already embedded in some critical U.S. infrastructure.
10% of New York City’s electricity runs through Chinese-made transformers
China’s Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co. (JSHP Transformers) says 10% of New York City’s electricity runs through its transformers.
In February 2018, Chinese company Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co. (JSHP) announced that “since the delivery of 345KV GSUs and shunt reactors to Bayonne Energy Center in Bayonne, New Jersey, which exclusively supplies New York City, JSHP transformers have since 2012 provided 10% of the electricity for the entire New York City.”
Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co. (JSHP) previously supplied transformers to the Bayonne Energy Center in Bayonne, N.J., in 2011 and 2017. The company said it has supplied more than 100 transformers to the U.S. and Canada since 2009.
Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co. also said they can handle 18 percent of the electrical load in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
U.S. confiscates a Jiangsu Huapeng transformer
In May 2020, the U.S. confiscated a 250-ton, $3 million high-voltage transformer manufactured by China’s Jiangsu Huapeng Transformer Co. The transformer was being shipped to a substation in Colorado.
The transformer was later taken to Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, USA for inspection.
On May 1, 2020, then-President Trump announced increased protection of the U.S. electric grid and signed an executive order banning the import and use of equipment that poses a national security threat to U.S. power plants and transmission systems.
In December 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy issued an executive order prohibiting the procurement, importation, transfer or installation of high-capacity power system equipment from China.
Experts Call for Removing Communist China from U.S. Power Grid
Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy, a U.S. think tank, called on the Biden Administration to remove Chinese transformers and other products from the U.S. power grid.
Gaffney told the Epoch Times that it is easy to tell if “the Chinese Communist Party is hostile to the United States” and that taking down the U.S. power grid is “part of an over-the-top war against the United States” by the Chinese Communist Party and its military.
He explained that it is estimated that 90 percent of the U.S. population would die if the U.S. power grid went down for a year because every aspect of society, including water, Food, transportation, communications, Home heating, cooling and air conditioning systems, business transactions, banking services, the military, and emergency services, is heavily dependent on electricity supplies.
Gaffney called on the Biden administration to “ensure that the 300 Chinese transformers and grid-related equipment already in use by U.S. utilities are evaluated for cyber and other vulnerabilities and replaced with reliable equipment as soon as possible.
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