American solar companies rely on materials from Xinjiang, where manual labor is rampant

The project got Vision News Center, This Pulitzer Centerwith Open Technology Fund.

Solar energy has established a good reputation, saving the planet by providing clean energy. However, the bottom line of the industry is dirty: its main components rely heavily on Xinjiang (in China, the region has become synonymous with forced labor by Muslim minorities).

In the past four years, China has arrested more than 1 million people worldwide. Detention facility network The entire Xinjiang region.Many of these camps Including factory A place where Muslim minorities are forced to work. The solar industry is extremely dependent on parts and materials imported from the region, where tight government surveillance makes it almost impossible for outside observers to assess whether people are working according to their wishes. However, there are few alternative suppliers for the components required by the US solar industry.

This is a particular problem for polysilicon, which is a metallic gray crystal form of an essential element for the manufacture of solar cells, which can convert light into energy. In 2016, only 9% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon came from Xinjiang. But according to industry analyst Johannes Bernreuter, it will account for about 45% of the world’s supply by 2020.

At least one major Chinese polysilicon manufacturer maintains close ties with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a state-controlled paramilitary organization. Last year, the US government imposed sanctions on XPCC to help Beijing carry out large-scale Muslim detentions. The United States cited evidence that cotton is produced using forced labor and therefore banned cotton.

Another major polysilicon producer in China stated that it has a relationship with “vocational schoolIn Xinjiang, this is a red flag because the Chinese government has long used the term as a euphemism for detention camps.

The organization’s general counsel, John Smirnow, said that the Solar Energy Industry Association, which represents US solar companies, opposes “condemned” human rights violations in Xinjiang and “encourages” companies to move their supply chains out of the region.

He said: “We have no indication that solar energy is directly implicated, but there are reports that we want to ensure that forced labor will never become part of the solar supply chain.”

But as President Joe Biden is preparing to take the office, after promising to improve America’s clean energy infrastructure, the US solar industry faces a choice: ignore the risk of human rights abuse or develop expensive new alternatives in order to fight for competition and more pollution. Form of energy production.

China dominates After the global polysilicon industry Impose tariffs on polysilicon imports From the United States, South Korea and the European Union, and increased domestic production, Obviously retaliate against tariffs imposed by the U.S.,Year 2014. China is also one of the world’s largest consumers of polysilicon, which means that many companies outside of China start to compete and become increasingly unpopular, because exporting polysilicon in China is no longer cost-effective. In the following years, China’s polysilicon industry has flourished, not only in Xinjiang, but also in other regions such as Sichuan in the southwest.

Bernreuter said: “Most of the supply chain is concentrated in China, while most of the rest of Southeast Asia is in factories owned by Chinese companies.” “There is no other choice in the supply chain.”

But in recent months, imports from Xinjiang have aroused the anger of American lawmakers.

In the last Congress, the delegates Considered A bill that will ban all commodities in the region, this legislation may be restored to take effect at the upcoming meeting.House bill Targeted “Poverty Alleviation” Program Make Xinjiang Muslims work in factories and farms far from home.

Since the end of 2016, the Chinese government has launched a campaign that includes mass detention, digital surveillance, indoctrination, and forced labor of approximately 13 million Muslim minorities in Xinjiang Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other regions. . Experts say that non-Chinese people who come to Xinjiang are often closely monitored or accompanied by the police, making it difficult for companies to audit their forced labor supply chain.

“It’s almost impossible to confidently assess working conditions in Xinjiang because it’s almost impossible to get qualified assessors into the area. Then, due to surveillance, their ability to interview workers (especially Uyghur workers) is limited.” Amy Lehr, Director of the Human Rights Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC report BuzzFeed News tells the area about forced labor.

However, if the U.S. Customs and Border Protection suspects the use of forced labor, it already has the legal power to prohibit imports from the region.The agency stopped a batch of human shipments from Xinjiang in July According to the report The expansion is carried out using prison labor. In December, CBP Seized goods Xinjiang’s cotton and computer accessories. this week, It is forbidden Import tomato and cotton products from so-called “slave labor” in the region.

Lyell said: “Even without a regional ban, it is possible for CBP to review the Xinjiang-related forced labor risks in the solar company’s supply chain.”

The research team of Horizon Consulting said in a report that polysilicon from Xinjiang often landed in the United States.

The report said: “These commodities have entered several other countries in the United States from China directly or through indirect transshipment and processing, including Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Vietnam,” the report concluded, “Exposure to forced labor is common.” Including “solar panels imported and installed in the United States.”

Forced labor is usually used for manufacturing jobs that do not require specialized skills. Some of these types of tasks (for example, taking apart tubes of materials) are used to produce polysilicon.

Industry experts said that if the United States does ban polysilicon imports from China, then US-based companies will have enough capacity to make up for the shortage, but will face higher costs and other problems in the supply chain.

On the one hand, other parts used in solar panels are also dominated by Chinese manufacturing. Once the polysilicon is made, it is cut into small pieces called “silicon wafers.” The vast majority of wafer manufacturers are located in China. And compared with other parts of China, it is cheaper to produce polysilicon in Xinjiang. Xinjiang companies can get large subsidies from the government, and the cost of electricity provided by coal-fired power plants is usually lower than wages in the richer regions of China.

The manufacturing plant of Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon is located in the United States. The company invested more than $1 billion to build a polysilicon plant in Washington State. After China imposed tariffs on U.S. goods, the company had to slow down production first, and then shut it down completely in 2019.

Moreover, the industry may face more domestic difficulties in the future.An executive of Hemlock Semiconductor Group, an American polysilicon manufacturer Tell investors On October 22, he “fully believed” that the US government was about to conduct an investigation into the solar energy supply chain.

Most polysilicon in Xinjiang Manufactured by four Chinese companies, these four companies are one of the world’s six largest material suppliers. One of them, Daqo New Energy Corp (Daqo New Energy Corp) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. What follows is a requirement for transparency, which allows a better understanding of how it operates.

According to Chinese state media reports and the company’s website, the company has close ties with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a state-owned paramilitary organization in China. The organization is strong enough to manage cities in the region. The most famous of its Chinese activities is the “Bingtuan”, whose activities include helping Han immigrants settle in Xinjiang and manage farms. The Corps issued a policy document in 2013, including solar energy as one of its “development goals”.

In July, the US government imposed sanctions on XPCC, saying that it helped implement the Beijing mass detention policy against Muslims.U.S. on December 2 Prohibition of import of cotton The product produced by XPCC cited evidence of its use of forced labor.

Unable to contact XPCC for comment.

In a public document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in October, Daegu Disclosure Since XPCC operates the regional power grid, it has gained “other advantages” in terms of electricity costs.Local national newspaper The report says The total amount of Daegu subsidies paid by the Corps exceeded RMB 489,447 (approximately US$75,000). The two companies also received millions of dollars in subsidies from the Shihezi municipal government in Xinjiang, which is managed by the Xinjiang Corps.use Chinese Press release, Daegu Xinjiang Branch also pointed out that it is regarded as an “innovative enterprise pilot unit” of XPCC.

Daegu’s polysilicon plant is located 7 miles north of Shihezi City. Construction work began in the spring of 2011, when 110 farmland the size of a football field was cleared to make room for the factory. By 2013, it had been completed, and the large industrial buildings covering the site were connected by an elevated pipeline network. In 2014, the building was expanded by another 3 million square feet, and new buildings continued to be added in the following two years. The latest growth of the plant occurred in the summer of 2019. An additional 3 million square feet were added to the southwest end of the building, and the previously unused part of the site was filled with buildings. The factory now occupies 12.2 million square feet, equivalent to 215 football fields.

Daktronics could not comment, but Said before It does not use forced labor “under any circumstances, whether in its own facilities or throughout the supply chain.”

According to research by CSIS and other organizations, in Xinjiang, programs euphemistically described as “poverty alleviation” are related to forced labor.

One of Xinjiang’s other large polysilicon producers, GCL-Poly Energy, stated in an annual report that it is cooperating with Xinjiang’s “vocational schools”. The government has long called detention camps in this area vocational schools. Chinese News also said that GCL-Poly participated in the poverty alleviation plan.

Unable to access GCL-Poly to comment.

Francine Sullivan, vice president of business development for Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon, said the industry must make a choice.

She said: “It will be unsustainable to build an industry based on coal and slaves.” “Most people in the solar field think that it will be polluted by the green and far away from us. We don’t need solar energy because we are solar energy.” ●