The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized more than 1,000 shipments of China-made solar power equipment over a new U.S. law targeting forced labor in a Chinese region, industry sources and customs officials told Reuters, in a development that could derail the solar energy boom in the United States.The U.S. seized 1,053 shipments of solar equipment between the end of June and the end of October, the Customs and Border Protection told Reuters.On June 21, the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which bans products manufactured using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, entered into force. The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) is home to half of the world’s polysilicon, which is used in solar panels manufactured in many other countries.
Some of China’s suppliers of solar panels, which are among the largest in the…