The Department of Commerce (DOC) launched an investigation involving solar panel imports sourced from East Asian countries amid suspicion that the supply originated from China. The potential findings could indicate forced labor in Xinjiang.
Auxin Solar filed a complaint in February asking for "country-wide circumvention inquiries pursuant to Section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, concerning crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells (“CSPV”) that are assembled in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia using parts and components from China," according to the complaint.
"On behalf of Auxin Solar Inc. (“Auxin Solar”), a minority- and woman-owned, U.S.-headquartered, and U.S.-operated manufacturer of CSPV modules, we hereby submit to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (“Commerce”) the enclosed petition requesting country-wide circumvention inquiries pursuant to Section 781(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, concerning crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells (“CSPV”) that are assembled in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia using parts and components from China," the complaint stated.
The DOC announced March 28 that it would be moving forward with an investigation stemming from the complaint, Utility Dive reported. If the photovoltaic components being imported from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia are from China, they would be subject to a tariff. The investigation is expected to take up to a year to complete, leading many to suspend imports from those countries.
“This misstep will have a devastating impact on the U.S. solar market at a time when solar prices are climbing, and project delays and cancellations are adding up,” President and CEO of SEIA, Abigail Ross Hopper, said in a statement, mirroring the thoughts of other experts in the solar industry.
The suspicion is justified even further considering the scale of photovoltaic production attributed to China, according to a 2019 Reuters report, that found the country was the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic products, responsible for creating 80% of all solar panels globally.
If the investigation confirms Auxin Solar’s Chinese tariff-dodging claims efforts to be true, the findings would implicate photovoltaic imports from the listed countries in the repression of the Uyghur population, leaving lingering concern among players in the solar and clean industries, according to a report from Sheffield Hallam University.
Sheffield Hallam University recently shared research findings that linked the suppressed Uyghur population to the global solar panel supply, the school’s website stated.
According to the report, Uyghurs forced into labor in China are responsible for 45% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, which 95% of solar modules rely on. The report also stated that every polysilicon producer in the Uyghur Region has reported participation in the “labor transfer programs and/or are supplied raw materials by companies that have”.
The labor transfers outlined in the report are involuntary and accomplished through “unprecedented coercion,” the university stated. The report identified 90 Chinese and international companies whose supply chains are intertwined and thus could be impacted by Chinese forced labor policies.