Satellite outage knocks out control of Enercon wind turbines

• Remote control of 5,800 wind turbines knocked out
• Enercon says disruption coincided with Russian invasion
• Says working with providers to resolve problem

BERLIN - Germany's Enercon on Monday said a "massive disruption" of satellite connections in Europe was affecting the operations of 5,800 wind turbines in central Europe.

It said the satellite connections stopped working on Thursday, knocking out remote monitoring and control of the wind turbines, which have a total capacity of 11 gigawatt (GW).

"The exact cause of the disruption is not yet known. The communication services failed almost simultaneously with the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine," Enercon said in a statement.

Enercon has informed Germany's cybersecurity watchdog BSI and is working with the relevant providers of the satellite communication networks to resolve the disruption, which it said affected around 30,000 satellite terminals used by companies and organisations from various sectors across Europe.

U.S.-listed satellite communications firm Viasat Inc (VSAT.O) said earlier on Monday it was investigating a suspected cyberattack that caused a partial outage in its residential broadband services in Ukraine and other European countries. read more

Enercon is working with the operators of the affected wind farms to set up alternative ways to regain remote control of the turbines, it said, without naming the operators.

It added that there was no risk to the turbines as they continued to operate on "auto mode".

German daily Handelsblatt was first to report the disruption earlier on Monday.