#Solar energy push relies on region in China linked to Uyghur genocide

Companies and governments pushing for solar energy are confronting a previously overlooked roadblock, according to a new report.

The industry’s solar energy supply chains are heavily reliant on Xinjiang, a Chinese region the US government and others say is the scene of genocide against the local ethnic Muslim Uyghur inhabitants, The Wall Street Journal said.

At issue is polysilicon, an essential ingredient to most solar panels, which comes from this region of northwestern China, where human-rights groups and US officials say China runs a sprawling network of internment camps that have held more than 1 million Uyghurs.

Experts in the renewable energy industry say they fear that Xinjiang, which makes about half of the world’s supply of polysilicon, as well as other essential materials, could have links to forced labor.

In recent months, global pressure has been mounting to curb trade with Xinjiang as both the US and the European Union are weighing legislation that could lead to import bans on products from the region, including polysilicon. In January, the US already banned imports on cotton and tomatoes from the area.

Many Western solar companies are already working to cut exposure to the region, fearing their industry will be in crosshairs next.

Zaid Ashai, chief executive of Boston-based Nexamp, which buys solar panels and other components from China and elsewhere for the US, told The Journal it has become near impossible to send independent auditors into Xinjiang. So far, Nexamp plans to continue buying from Chinese suppliers and is hoping the industry can create a tracking system to ensure nothing is made in Xinjiang, he said.

According to The Journal, in a draft report looking into forced labor, US.-based consulting firm Horizon Advisory said it found public records and Chinese media reports showing that all four big polysilicon manufacturers in the region have ties to activities or entities that outside experts have associated with forced labor in Xinjiang.

China’s government has denied that there is forced labor in the region, adding that its activities in Xinjiang are meant to combat terrorism and build livelihoods. A government spokesman told The Journal that if Western solar companies stop doing business with China, it’s their loss.

Tensions over Xinjiang are spilling over to other industries, as well. Chinese social-media accounts launched online protests and boycotts of Western clothing brands like H&M and Nike that had moved away from using Xinjiang cotton.

Investment bank Roth Capital Partners warned in a February note to investors that US sanctions may be on the horizon.

“The tide may be turning on Xinjiang” when it comes to polysilicon, the note said .

Given the lack of transparency, experts say that the only way to ensure their supply chains are clean is to avoid the region altogether.

“I don’t want to accept anything less than” moving supply chains out of Xinjiang, said Suzanne Leta, head of policy and strategy at US solar installer SunPower Corp. and a board member of SEIA.

Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, who co-sponsored the Senate’s Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, as well as a recent bill that would ban all government purchases of Chinese solar panels, has publicly called for the decoupling of the US economy from that of China.

The bill, called the “Keep China out of Solar Energy Act, “prohibits the use of federal funds to buy solar panels from Communist China,” Scott said in a statement earlier this month. “It sends a clear message to General Secretary Xi that the United States will not turn a blind eye to his genocide and human rights abuses.”