Scotland’s publicly owned water supplier Scottish Water has admitted its solar panels are linked to forced labour camps in China.
On its website, Scottish Water reported that global suppliers of solar-grade polysilicon “have links” to forced labour and other human rights violations in the Xinjiang province of China.
While global supply chains have been moving away from this area, it still represents a “clear conflict” for companies sourcing solar panels from Xinjiang, “including at Scottish Water.”
As reported by the Guardian, the water company has installed tens of thousands of solar panels it suspects are linked to Chinese slave labour at 66 sites around the country, bought for tens of millions of pounds.
They include a “super solar” scheme at its large water treatment works that supplies 565,000 people in the Glasgow area with drinking water. It said the 8,448 panels at Balmore in East Dunbartonshire, which treats water taken from Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond, cost £5 million.
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The company admitted it “cannot yet guarantee solar panel sources will be completely free from elements that come from the Xinjiang region and the evidence of forced labour in that area.”
It will also continue to use solar panels already bought but is “working with others” – including Utilities Against Slavery – create a “solar panel supply chain that is free from forced labour as soon as possible.”
“The Scottish Water Board takes this issue really seriously and we are leading the way in trying to find a solution that will help us to achieve our net zero targets whilst also protecting human rights,” it added.
