GB Energy will collaborate with the Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) to implement a government change that prohibits the use of solar modules associated with forced labor in its energy projects.
Last week an amendment was introduced on the Great British Energy Bill that prohibit the use of solar products with forced labor in their GB Energy Projects supply chains. This is likely to be implemented by work with the SSI, a solar industry initiative founded by trade organizations Solar Energy UK and SolarPower Europe to increase transparency and ethical practices in the PV -Supply Chain.
In an interview about the BBC’s Today program, energy secretary Ed Miliband said that GB Energy would be able to use modules of companies “that are independently certified if no slave labor is used under the initiative of the solar industry.”
Solar -Energy Portal Also heard of a Solar Energy UK spokesperson that GB Energy “will implement the amendment through working with the Solar Stewardship Initiative.”
In the announcement of the change in the law of Desnz, Chris Hewett, Chief Executive of Solar Energy UK said: “By the end of this year, SSI certified production facilities will be able to produce 100 GW of solar panels per year of independently assessed locations that are not complicity in forced labor.
“That is about five times more than all existing solar panels of the UK, more than enough to meet both the British and the EU demand. This number will continue to grow.”
So far, the SSI has certified three Chinese solar production locations under the ESG standard; Two from Trinasolar And a third of Ja Solar. This standard includes criteria for environmental, sustainability and management criteria such as CO2 footprint, working methods at the workplace and environmental protection, but distinguishes itself from the Lever traceability standardFor which traceability of silicon material requires that facilities come in and leave.
Can the police of the solar industry itself?
The mining and production of raw materials for solar modules – quartz, metallurgical quality silicon and polysilicon – are exposed to accusations of forced labor in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (Xuar) of China.
Reports, in particular of Sheffield Hallam University, have accused the Chinese state of imposing forced labor on the Oeyghur Muslim -less population in Xinjiang.
China dominates more than 80% of the entire solar supply chain and, according to some estimates, no less than 50% of the world’s polysilon is produced in the Xuar.
As an industry agency without legislative force, the SSI of sun manufacturers requires voluntary specific production facilities to submit for inspection by third parties. Those manufacturers are members of the SSI and were in many cases involved in the development of the audit standards.
This has expressed some concern in the international solar industry about the ability of the initiative to independently assess the presence of forced labor in the manufacturer’s supply chains.
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) told our sister publication, PV Tech, that the involvement of large Chinese manufacturers when consulting the standards, some of which have had Questions asked about their exposure to forced labor, ‘undermines [the SSI’s] credibility.”
There are other problems. The raw material mine construction and first parts of the solar -supply chain are difficult to trace and facilities within the Xuar are inaccessible to outsiders. Although solar module or celf manufacturers themselves are not necessarily involved in forced labor practices, their suppliers for quartz and MGs are often unknown, as shown in the 2023 ‘about exposed’ report from Sheffield Hallam.
Former head of the SSI, Alexia Rolentetto, said PV Tech Earlier this year, the SSI would not accredit a manufacturer that they knew it was active in Xinjiang, where independent assessments were impossible.
However, the issue becomes more sticky when considering the practice of “employment transfers”, in which the Chinese government is accused of moving forced employees from the Xuar to other parts of China. Found a publication from 2025 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) “Increased cross-provincial workers transfers” From “surplus” employees for the production of raw materials included in solar modules and batteries.
Spend against PV Tech, Ruvanoletto said that the reality of the solar -supply chain is “complicated”, and that a certain production site “material can have come everywhere, literally.” She added that involving the industry in its standards makes the initiative more practical and more applicable in the real world.
The SSI has had successes; At the beginning of this year, the US government has one subsidiary of large Chinese solar manufacturer JA SOLAR To his entity list for the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. After his own research (and short Suspend the membership of JA Solar) The SSI discovered that the facility in question had stopped the activities in 2018. It then recovered the company.
Until the last GB energy bill has been adopted, it is unclear whether the government will impose its own legal requirements for solar modules or whether it will rely on coordination with the SSI. Although it is undoubtedly a positive step, the industry initiative is not without restrictions in tackling the difficult to reach parts of solar delivery and settlement with the dominance of some Chinese manufacturers involved in the scheme.
The EU has announced a forced employment ban and a due diligence directive for the sustainability of companies aimed at preventing unethical products that enter the block.
According to HMRC data, the UK imports more than 40% of its solar modules from China. There are other options. In addition to reducing British production capacity, a growing basic basis for solar energy in India could provide for the needs of the UK, as well as some emerging capacity in the EU.
It is also unclear how large a footprint will harden GB Energy in the British sun sector. The company announced its first ‘large’ project last month: an investment of £ 200 million in the implementations on the roof at schools and NHS sites, and promises to take advantage of £ 8.3 billion in ‘new money’ in the course of this parliament.
