First PV Modules Released under UFLPA

By Christian Roselund

On 30 November Roth Capital reported that Customs had released a shipment of Jinko Solar’s PV modules utilizing polysilicon from Wacker Chemie from detention under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The investment banking company also stated that a second, “smaller” shipment of modules had been released, but did not provide the module maker or other details. CEA has heard from another source that this second shipment featured modules that also utilized non-China polysilicon.

CEA has confirmed with Jinko that its products have been released, and Jinko is stating that this release represents multiple shipments but did not provide more detail. This makes this the first confirmed release of PV module shipments from detention under the UFLPA in the more than five months that the law has been in effect.

Wacker Chemie makes polysilicon in the United States and Germany. CEA believes that this is a factor in the release of these modules from detention, as Customs has stated that it will be more difficult to get cells & modules with Chinese polysilicon released from detention.

UFLPA detentions began in June 2022, and during the last five months Customs has detained more than 1,000 shipments of PV cells and modules. CEA has confirmed that product from LONGi and Jinko has been detained and Reuters and other sources have stated that Trina Solar product is also detained. However, we do not know what capacity of cells and modules are in detention, as shipments vary in size and Customs has declined to provide additional information.

The overall impact of UFLPA on the U.S. solar market is hard to determine. However, in its most recent quarterly results Jinko admitted that it has shipped 2 gigawatts of PV modules that were intended for the United States to other markets due to concerns that these would be detained.

Source: CEA Research