U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has detained a shipment of solar cells from solar technology company Qcells under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), the company confirmed. The act, enforced since mid-2022, restricts the entry of goods linked to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.
Qcells did not disclose the volume or value of the detained shipments. However, CBP’s public dashboard indicates that in June, seven electronics shipments—valued at a combined $3.37 million—were detained from South Korea, marking the first such enforcement actions targeting Korean-origin electronics under the UFLPA. While CBP categorizes these broadly as "electronics," the classification often includes solar panels, components, and batteries.
Qcells stated that the detained solar cells do not contain any materials sourced from Xinjiang, and the company is actively contesting any presumption to the contrary. “Everything in our most recent supply chain is non-China,” said Scott Moskowitz, Qcells’ Vice President of Market Strategy and Industry Affairs. He characterized the incident as a “routine inspection” and added that the company is working closely with CBP to document and clarify the sourcing origins, with hopes for a swift resolution.
The detentions come at a time when Qcells is expanding its U.S.-based manufacturing operations. The company is currently ramping up its vertically integrated crystalline silicon solar manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Georgia, which it says will help reduce its reliance on imported solar cells. The plant represents the first such integrated facility in the U.S. since the 2018 closure of SolarWorld Americas in Oregon.
Qcells, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions, manufactures solar cells for U.S. use primarily at its factories in South Korea and Malaysia.
The company also acknowledged that the incident may signal a broader escalation in trade enforcement, particularly under UFLPA. Such developments could further complicate the U.S. solar industry’s efforts to secure stable domestic solar cell supply, already challenged by existing import tariffs, foreign entity-of-concern (FEOC) restrictions, and global supply chain constraints.
As regulatory scrutiny increases, solar manufacturers may face new hurdles in navigating compliance while scaling up domestic production capacity—highlighting the ongoing complexity of clean energy deployment in the U.S.
