The U.S. Department of Commerce is reviewing imports of solar energy following a complaint in February that claimed solar panel components sourced from East Asian countries were actually from China.
On Feb. 8, solar energy company Auxin Solar Inc. filed a complaint with the Department of Commerce, citing solar panel components that were claimed to be from Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia were actually parts and components from China, which would subject the parts to tariffs.
"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 company said in the official petition.
The complaint is considered a blow to the solar energy industry, with many leaders worried the misstep could have devastating effects on the solar market. The investigation is expected to take up to a year to complete, leading many to suspend imports from those countries altogether, according to a Utility Dive March 29 post.
"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," Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, said, according to a March 28 SEIA news release.
A December 2020 report from Reuters found China was the world’s largest producer of photovoltaic products in 2019, responsible for creating 80 percent of all solar panels globally.
While the complaint alleged that the Chinese were dodging tariffs and the solar industry worries about clean energy setback, if the investigation affirms the complaint it would implicate photovoltaic imports from the listed countries in the repression of the Uyghur population. Sheffield Hallam University, a public research organization located in the United Kingdom, published research that linked the suppressed Uyghur population to the global solar panel supply.
According to the report, Uyghurs forced into labor in China are responsible for 45 percent of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, on which 95 percent of solar modules rely. According to the same research, every polysilicon producer in the Uyghur Region has reported participation in the “labour transfer programmes and/or are supplied by raw materials companies that have."
The labor transfers outlined in the report are involuntary and accomplished through “unprecedented coercion.” The research identified 90 Chinese and international companies whose supply chains are intertwined and thus would be impacted by the realization that the Chinese products are created using forced labor.
