There are currently over 40GW of Chinese-made solar modules in storage across Europe with a cumulative value of around €7 billion (US$7.8 billion), according to data from research firm Rystad Energy.
2GW worth of solar PV modules were detained at the US border throughout 2022 as a result of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), representing 1,423 individual shipments.
US authorities’ move to require documentation showing the source of quartzite in solar module imports should come as no surprise, experts have said, amid suggestions most companies will be able to overcome the latest hurdle that threatens to delay shipments.
The US’ Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) has come into force today and assumes that any items “wholly or in part” made in China’s Xinjiang region are a product of the region’s alleged labour camps for ethnic minorities, meaning they are prohibited from entering the US.
Trade body the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has urged the US Department of Commerce (DOC) to throw out petitions from an alliance of companies that are pushing for investigations into alleged circumvention of antidumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on solar PV cells from China.
The US Department of Commerce has delayed its decision regarding a potential investigation into alleged circumvention of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on solar imports while it requests more information from petitioners.
More than 190 US solar companies have warned that proposed duties on imports of modules and cells from three Southeast Asian countries represent an “immediate and serious threat” to America’s solar sector.
