The Washington Post story, 'Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China',  raises an important point. Many of the Asian companies which provide investors with a means of playing sustainability themes are unable to demonstrate competence at ESG disciplines. Solar advocates may cheer the fact that China's solar companies are driving cost curves down, but it appears that many polysilicon suppliers need technical assistance and enforcement processes to bring their waste handling processes into line with the norms embraced by their customers.

The story,which was published on the front page of the Sunday edition has gained significant attention, including a statement of outrage by the President of the Solar Energy Industries Association, see below.

The article notes that in China, the push to get into the solar energy market is having unexpected consequences.  In particular it notes that in China, polysilicon plants are the new dot-coms. For the past four years,  the world has been suffering from a shortage of polysilicon, the key component of sunlight-capturing wafers, driving up prices of solar energy
technology and creating a barrier to its adoption. Flush with venture capital and with generous grants and low-interest loans from a central government touting its efforts to seek clean energy alternatives, more than 20 Chinese companies are starting polysilicon manufacturing plants. The combined capacity of these new factories is estimated at 80,000 to 100,000 tons -- more than double the 40,000 tons produced in the entire world today.

But Chinese companies' methods for dealing with waste haven't been perfected. The byproduct of polysilicon production, silicon tetrachloride, is a highly toxic substance that poses environmental hazards.

To read the article see:
Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China
By Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post Foreign Service, Sunday, March 9, 2008
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/08/AR2008030802595.html

The story also provoked a strong statement by the President of the Solar
Energy Industries Association

STATEMENT BY SEIA PRESIDENT RHONE RESCH IN RESPONSE TO THE MARCH 9 WASHINGTON POST STORY, "Solar Energy Firms Leave Waste Behind in China."

"The 550 member companies of SEIA were outraged and disappointed by the reports of toxic chemical dumping by a factory in China, as detailed in Sunday's Washington Post.

"This story was the first we had heard of this practice, which violates both our association's professional code of conduct and the very spirit of what we're trying to do as an industry. We are out to solve environmental problems, not create them.