[German]It does not seem to be a coincidence: On February 24, 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine began – and on that early morning satellite communication for thousands of wind turbines in Europe failed. The background is that communication with the KA-SAT satellite network is disrupted. The wind turbines are still producing electricity, but can no longer be controlled remotely via this satellite link for maintenance. There are indications of a cyber attack.
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Wind turbines without satellite contact
I had already read it last Sunday, February 27, 2022, at German site Golem. Since the morning of February 24, the operators of more than 6,000 wind turbines in Europe no longer have the possibility to remotely access their control via the KA-SAT satellite network. Currently, only backup solutions can be used for communication. As a result, the wind turbines continue to produce electricity with a capacity of 11 gigawatts.
The KA-SAT satellite network
According to Wikipedia, Eutelsat KA-SAT 9A is a commercial communications satellite owned by the French company Eutelsat that provides broadband Internet to Europe and the Middle East from its geostationary position of 9° East in Ka-band. To make better use of the frequency of its 237 MHz transponders, it makes use of 82 spot beams distributed across Europe, each with a capacity of 475 Mb/s.
The three-axis stabilized satellite will provide high-speed Internet for Eutelsat's Tooway service from its position in Europe and the Middle East. Of these, seven of the spot beams are intended to serve Germany. Total data throughput is expected to exceed 70 Gbps, with each spotbeam providing 900 Mbps of capacity, split into an outbound and return channel. For the full bandwidth of a single connection (20 Mbps downlink, 6 Mbps uplink), a 77-cm antenna is sufficient on the ground.
The ground network is operated by SkyLogic, a subsidiary of Eutelsat, while the satellite services are provided by Viasat. This is an American provider that provides satellite Internet for customers and, according to German Handelsblatt, probably operates 30,000 satellite terminals in Europe. This solution is used for wind turbines located in rural areas without local Internet access. The Handelsblatt quotes the German Wind Energy Association, according to which only operators who control their turbines via solutions from the Saarbrücken-based provider Euroskypark are affected by the communications failure.
Outage on the morning of February 24
The outage took place between five and six o'clock in the morning of February 24, 2022, according to this German article. German site Golem has already published some information from the operator of the KA-SAT service on Sunday. Viasat told its partners in an email the following:
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This appears to have initially started with the KA-SAT service in Ukraine and then spread across almost the entire KA-SAT footprint. The outage is associated with a suspicious event that began at 4 a.m. UTC (Universal Time) on February 24. We continue to analyze our systems to identify the root cause and are taking additional network and security precautions to prevent further impact.
Currently, security specialists are investigating the incident. There does not appear to be a short-term solution – it is believed in security circles that the disruption may be related to a cyberattack on a ground station in Ukraine.
Only maintenance affected
Addendum: It has been discussed heavily within my German blog – No, the wind turbines do not "disassembles" in storms because no one can shut them down. The engineers are already planning the turbines in such a way that they are self-controlled in an autarkic manner and, if necessary, bring themselves into as zero force position. There is also the possibility for the plant operators to access the setpoints of the individual plants via "other channels".
The appearance of the KA-SAT service has its importance for the maintenance companies. This is because they use the KA-SAT connection to transmit the information needed for this operation via a faster connection. Now plant operators have to report a malfunction by other means. This is from an information from the company enercon dated March 1, 2022, which I subsequently came across. I have pulled out the text and translated it, before this is deleted.
Disruption of the satellite connection to wind turbines
Due to the disruption, only the service communication channel to the turbines is affected.
Due to a massive disruption of the satellite connection in Europe, remote monitoring and control of thousands of ENERCON wind turbines (WTGs) is currently only possible to a limited extent. A total of 5,800 WTGs in Central Europe with a total output of 11 gigawatts have been affected by the connection failure since Thursday (February 24). There is no danger to the WTGs. The affected WTGs are still in operation and producing clean renewable energy. They are running in automatic mode until the problem is solved and can basically regulate themselves autonomously and independently.
Only the service communication channel to the systems is impaired by the malfunction. This means that in the event of a fault, the system cannot be reset remotely; this would have to be done by a service team directly at the system. However, the grid operators still have unrestricted access to the turbines in order to control their behavior in the power grid – for example, to reduce the feed-in power if this is necessary for reasons of grid stability.
If your WTG (stands for wind mill) is affected by this interference, you are required to report irregularities and faults directly or via your operations management. SCADA monitoring is currently not taking place due to the disturbance! Please also inform your direct marketer about the status of accessibility and other involved stakeholders, if necessary for your wind farm.
Due to the impairment of the critical infrastructure, a report was immediately submitted to the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). ENERCON is in close contact with the federal authority. Together with the responsible providers of the satellite communication network, ENERCON is working at full speed to rectify the fault. In parallel, ENERCON is working to support the affected operators in setting up alternative communication connections in order to restore remote access as quickly as possible. As soon as alternatives and capacities have been checked, we will inform you immediately and offer them to you. Reactivation plans are also currently being drawn up for the return.
The exact cause of the malfunction is not yet known. However, a technical malfunction on ENERCON's side is currently ruled out after a thorough review. The communication services failed almost simultaneously with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Around 30,000 satellite terminals are affected across Europe, which are used by companies and organizations from various industries. The BSI has been warning of an increased threat situation since last week and has activated the National IT Crisis Response Center.
