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The protocol, which does not mention China specifically, recommends that rigorous descriptions and documentation be included with products as they proceed through factories and are shipped to the United States.
For instance, for an ingot of silicon that is shaped into logs and then sliced into wafers, those individual wafers should be identified as having come from a particular log or batch. That way the wafer purchaser could trace the products back to a specific ingot, according to the document.
The protocol also recommends that companies have their implementation of the procedures audited by a third party.
SEIA late last year began urging its members to exit the Xinjiang region and has asked its member companies to be able to provide assurances by June that their products are free of forced labor.
SEIA issues new protocol to foster ethical solar supply chains
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U S solar industry unveils guidelines to free supply chain of forced labor
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During President Joe Bidenâs first week in office he signed an executive order directing the federal government to, where possible, procure goods and services within the U.S. before turning abroad. Later, when he announced his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan in Pittsburgh in March, the president called for investing $100 billion in solar and other forms of renewable energy.
These are good ambitions, but there is a conflict.
Polysilicon is a key material in the manufacturing of solar panels. Itâs the substance that generates electricity from sunlight. The global solar sector has concentrated about 40% of its polysilicon production in the Xinjiang province of China, which is under scrutiny for human rights violations including forced labor and âre-education campsâ for its Uighur Muslim population.