China uses quantum satellite to protect world’s largest power grid against attacks

Operation commands able to be sent using particles of light relayed by Mozi, the world’s first quantum satellite

It offers reliable protection against blackouts caused by hacking, especially for commands sent over long distances or without optical fibres

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China’s power grid, the world’s largest, is complex to manage and costly to secure. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 11:00pm, 10 Dec 2021Updated: 9:43am, 11 Dec 2021

China has created a quantum communication network in space to protect its electric power grid against attacks, according to scientists involved in the project.

Part of the network links the power grid of Fujian, the southeastern province closest to Taiwan, to a national emergency command centre in Beijing.

In a drill conducted in May, the ultra-secure communication line allowed central government staff to take over control of the coastal province’s power grid operation without their commands being vulnerable to tapping or manipulation by a third party.

Beijing and Fujian are almost 2,000km (1,243 miles) apart. Building an optical cable of that length for quantum communication could be expensive, according to researchers working for the State Grid Information and Communication Branch – an agency building the national power grid’s information infrastructure.

A quantum satellite was used to relay commands between Beijing (left) and Fujian. Photo: State Grid Information and Communication Branch, Beijing

Instead, they used Mozi, the world’s first quantum satellite, to relay the quantum key for data encryption that, by the laws of physics, could not be hacked.

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