The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) – founded by trade bodies Solar Energy UK and SolarPower Europe – has released a Supply Chain Traceability Standard for solar manufacturers.
The standard aims to trace silicon from quartz mining to solar panel production and implement management and broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures. It will assess specific manufacturing facilities of companies that have volunteered for assessment.
The SSI was launched in 2022 by SolarPower Europe and Solar Energy UK. The initiative has more than 40 members in the solar industry, including several major Chinese manufacturers and global solar buyers, according to its website. There is already a general ESG standardpublished in October 2023. Companies whose activities meet the SSI criteria can label their products as such.
Alexia Ruvoletto, Head of the SSI Secretariat said: “The SSI Supply Chain Traceability Standard sets a new bar for end-to-end supply chain accountability in the solar sector. Establishing a clear, verifiable chain of custody for materials will lay the foundation for a more sustainable and ethical solar industry.”
The new standard requires that a compliant manufacturing facility source its materials from suppliers “with a compliant traceability system” of the SSI and that “in the future” there must be a process to source materials from “SSI -certified suppliers”.
It also requires a manufacturer to maintain a “materials accounting system” to track materials from the time they enter a factory until they leave as a finished product. It should also record and reconcile the amount of material entering and leaving the facility, and take into account any discrepancies.
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