A Chinese solar energy firm doing business in Central Oregon has come under the scrutiny of Oregon’s U.S. senators for possible ties to forced labor practices in China’s westernmost province, Xinjiang.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection authorities to investigate the source of solar panels used by GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd. to determine if any of the parts were sourced from Xinjiang.

GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd. owns three solar farms in Central Oregon, one on Bend’s east side and two in Jefferson County. The company is a subsidiary of GCL Group, a China-based conglomerate with multiple companies focused mainly on renewable energy. A sister company within GCL Group — Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Co. — was flagged three years ago by the Biden administration for its alleged connections to factories in Xinjiang that use forced labor.

The company was purportedly utilizing forced labor in Xinjiang and contributing to human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang, the White House said.

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Genocide claims

Around 11 million Uyghurs — a Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority in China — live in Xinjiang province. Tensions between Han Chinese and Uyghurs boiled over into periodic riots and attacks, especially in the early 2010s. These were followed by a crackdown by the Chinese government, leaving around 1 million arbitrarily detained.

The U.S. has described China’s treatment of Uyghurs as genocide, and the State Department alleges widespread use of forced labor in Xinjiang to produce goods for export.

A United Nations report published two years ago said allegations of slave labor in Xinjiang are credible. China has long denied accusations of forced labor and abuse against minorities in Xinjiang as Western propaganda. Congress passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in December 2021, effectively banning imports from Xinjiang unless the importer can prove the goods were not made with forced labor. But whatever GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd. brought into Oregon to build the solar farms was done before U.S. officials flagged GCL’s Xinjiang unit.

Power generation

GCL’s power plants include the 10-megawatt Bear Creek Solar Center LLC on Bend’s east side. In Jefferson County, GCL owns the Elbe Solar Center LLC and the Adams Solar Center LLC. Both are 10 megawatts each. All three plants produce power for PacifiCorp’s grid, with the contracts valid until 2036, said PacifiCorp spokesperson Pampi Chowdhury.

Jefferson County resident Chad Smith, owner of one of the properties leased by GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd., said he was unaware that the company may have sourced its panels from Xinjiang.

“It would concern me a little bit, for sure,” said Smith, when asked if he was concerned about GCL’s possible connection with forced labor in Xinjiang. “If we knew something like that going on we would have figured something else out. There’s lots of companies doing solar now.”

The Oregon Department of Energy declined to comment on the status of GCL New Energy’s permitting process because the installations are not within state jurisdiction, adding that permits are issued at the county level.

Deschutes and Crook county officials decried the use of slave labor but said the decision to issue permits was made before the White House designation.

“I am unaware of these circumstances. I certainly do not condone forced labor practices,” Peter Gutowski, director of Deschutes County Community Development, said when asked about GCL New Energy’s possible ties to forced labor.

“As you know, business practices of applicants, their subsidiaries or parent companies are not an approval criteria for siting a solar farm in Oregon,” he said.

Despite nearly six years having passed since the three plants were built in Central Oregon, Wyden insists he is looking into GCL New Energy’s imported products.

“Any company operating in Deschutes, Jefferson, or any other Oregon county needs to fully comply with U.S. law. Period,” Wyden wrote in an email to The Bulletin. “I’m asking Customs to explain whether GCL is complying with the law I authored to ban the import of products — including solar panels — that are made with slave labor.”

GCL New Energy did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls from The Bulletin regarding the source of its polysilicon and other parts used in the solar panels it installed in Central Oregon. Linea Gagliano, a spokesperson for Wyden’s office, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection has yet to issue a response to the senator’s inquiry into the source of the panels.

Legislative pressure

As head of the Senate Finance Committee, Wyden has spent years putting pressure on U.S. companies doing business in China to ensure that their supply chains do not include imports from Xinjiang.

In an email to The Bulletin, Wyden touted legislation he has helped pass to ensure that Chinese companies can’t profit from slave labor, at least in this country.

“I helped close the loophole in our forced labor laws to ensure no products made with slave labor can enter the United States and I am continually working with Customs and others to ensure these laws are fully enforced,” Wyden said.

In December 2022, Wyden sent letters to eight car manufacturers — including Tesla, General Motors and Ford — about their Chinese supply chains after a British report alleged forced labor in the automotive industry. Then in November, Wyden and seven other senators urged U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure that textiles from Xinjiang weren’t making their way into the United States from trading partners and Central America and the Caribbean.

The office of Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley echoed Wyden’s position, telling The Bulletin in an email that Merkley “is disturbed by sanctioned company GCL New Energy’s ties to Xinjiang.”

Merkley “would be deeply concerned if these Oregon solar panels are linked with forced labor. No products made with slave labor should ever be allowed into American markets,” his office said in a statement.

GCL and Its Xinjiang Connections

2018 — GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd., opens three solar farms in Central Oregon, two in Jefferson County, one in Deschutes County.

2019 — A unit of GCL Group begins operations in Xinjiang.

June 2021 — Xinjiang GCL New Energy Material Technology, part of GCL New Energy Holdings Ltd, is sanctioned for using forced labor.