Ed Miliband Approves Solar Plant Despite Alleged Exposure to Uyghur Forced Labour

Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband arriving in Downing Street, London, on July 9, 2024. Lucy North/PA Wire

Ed Miliband has green lighted a solar farm project in England despite alleged risks of Uyghur forced labour.

The Mallard Pass Solar Project was one of the three projects that were approved on Friday by Mr. Miliband, the new secretary of state for energy security and net zero.

The permission came days after local MP Alicia Kearns, who chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee until Parliament dissolved on May 30, called on Mr. Miliband to block the project.

In a letter the net zero secretary, Ms. Kearns said the project’s primary developer, Canadian Solar, shouldn’t be allowed to build nationally significant infrastructure in the UK because of its “widespread and well documented supply chain links to Uyghur forced labour.”

The MP also cited concerns over the use of fertile agricultural land, local opposition, compulsory acquisitions, and the other developer’s ability to deliver.

The proposal for the Mallard Pass Solar Project was first submitted in November 2022.

According to developers Windel Energy and Recurrent Energy, the 852-hectare solar farm, situated in South Kesteven, Lincolnshire, and Rutland, is expected to have the capacity to power 92,000 households.

In a decision letter on Friday, The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) said Mr. Miliband had “considered the overall planning balance” and concluded that “the public benefits associated with the Proposed Development outweigh the harm identified, and that development consent should therefore be granted.”

The department also approved two other solar projects on the same day.

Commenting on the decisions, Mr. Miliband said solar power is “crucial to achieving net zero, providing an abundant source of cleaner, cheaper energy on the mission towards 2030,” according to Sky News.

“Some of these cases had been held up for months before I arrived in the department. They were put on my desk on Monday and I’ve made a decision in three days. This is the speed we’re working at to achieve energy independence, cut bills for families, and kickstart green economic growth,” he said.

The minister added that the government will “make tough decisions with ambition and urgency” to “make the UK a clean energy superpower.”

Criticising the swift decision, Ms. Kearns wrote on X, “This is an example of ideology absolutism over considered governance.

“We in Rutland and Stamford deserved due consideration and due process, that has been ripped asunder with apparant [sic] glee.

“The impact on food security, biodiversity, of human rights concerns and on our local communities, warranted the courtesy of meaningful consideration.”

One of the project’s developers, Recurrent Energy, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc.

According to two reports published by Sheffield Hallam University’s Helena Kennedy Centre, all modules produced by Canadian Solar in China, Thailand, and Vietnam had high exposure to Uyghur forced labour.

In her letter to Mr. Miliband on Wednesday, Ms. Kearns cited the seizure of four Canadian Solar shipments by the U.S. government in 2021 over Uyghur forced labour links, and called on the minister to reject the Mallard Pass solar plant and support import control.

Dumping Ground

Earlier this year, experts told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee that the UK was becoming a “dumping ground” for goods that may be tainted with Uyghur slave labour because of looser import rules compared to other economies.

MPs heard that British importers “can simply hire a lawyer to write a compliance statement,” while in the United States, all goods wholly or partly from China’s Xinjiang Province are considered to involve forced labour by default unless a company can prove otherwise.

As a result, some solar panel manufacturers would run a “clean” production line for the United States and a “dirty” line for the rest of the world, and that goods rejected by the United States can easily be diverted to be sold to the UK, MPs heard at the time.

Recurrent Energy and Canadian Solar didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’s requests for comments.

More Projects

On Friday, DESNZ also approved two other solar projects, Gate Burton in Lincolnshire and Sunnica in Suffolk.

The department estimates that Sunnica alone could create 1,500 construction jobs, which it says will contribute towards the government’s growth mission.

The three plans are expected to generate 1.3 gigawatts, powering the equivalent of 400,000 homes a year.

Nick Timothy, the new Conservative MP for West Suffolk, has also criticised the approval of Sunnica, describing it as “appalling and an insult to all the communities it affects,” and claimed there are concerns about “the safety of the battery energy storage system” planned for the site.

Meanwhile, shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said: “It’s clear that Ed Miliband has more interest in listening to the demands of Just Stop Oil than the needs of rural communities, even going as far as to overrule an expert examining authority to impose a large-scale solar farm in one case.

“Climate policy cannot come at the expense of struggling families, or the nation’s food or economic security, or it will fail.”

Opponents of the decision will have six weeks to seek judicial review.

Rooftop Revolution

On Sunday, Mr. Miliband said he wants to launch a “solar rooftop revolution” as he takes steps to boost the UK’s solar energy capacity.

The minister has relaunched the Solar Taskforce with the aim of tripling the amount of energy the panels generate in the UK.

He also wants to overhaul planning rules to emphasise the importance of solar to new buildings.

PA Media contributed to this report.