Solar industry prepares for Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act implementation
Implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) officially begins tomorrow, June 21. The legislation was signed into law by President Joe Biden in December 2021 and bans all imported goods from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China unless suppliers can prove the products were not made with forced labor.
Cotton, tomatoes and polysilicon are under significant scrutiny under the UFLPA. It’s been estimated that almost 50% of the world’s polysilicon comes from the Xinjiang region. The solar industry has already been navigating a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on silicon-based products made by Hoshine Silicon Industry Co., located in Xinjiang, since June 2021. Tomorrow’s UFLPA implementation will supersede the WRO.
Hundreds of megawatts of solar panels, likely headed to the U.S. utility-scale market, have been detained because of the WRO. Solar panels from Chinese companies LONGi, JinkoSolar, Trina Solar and Canadian Solar had all been detained for months, even though the companies claim to not use materials from Hoshine.
https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2022/06/solar-industry-prepares-for-uyghur-forced-labor-prevention-act-implementation/
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It's going to be much harder to find affordable solar panels going forward.