Tesla CEO And SolarCity Employ Cheap Prison Labor

Cheap prison labor worked in SolarCity's project to produce solar panels.

CEO Elon Musk’s company, SolarCity, has entered into a controversy. The American energy service provider is perhaps the most well-known brand for residential solar devices leading the market. It was established by Elon Musk along with two of his relatives, and has achieved fame for popular technology.

The energy enterprise has one factor that it does not want to share with others. For a large solar panel venture introduced three years ago at two university campuses based in Oregon, it hired a contractor that employed cheap prison workers to manufacture the panels, under a “buy American/buy local” banner.

The story makes us realize that we should closely watch the renewable power industry to ensure that it does not violate labor ethics and human rights in an attempt to move towards a clear power economy. Tesla news exclaimed that Oregon Institute of Technology and Oregon State University collaborated few years ago to equip their campuses with solar panels, in what would turn into one of the biggest solar facilities of the state. Since the supplier, SolarCity, would not only own but also take care of the devices, the two educational institutions would not need to finance the project.

Tesla news today affirmed that for the power service company, the agreement also seemed like a victory. According to a productive state program, Oregon Department of Energy sponsored the project worth $27 million with tax credits worth $11.8 million. (The company would not confirm the value of the financial incentives regardless of continuous requests). Those lavish taxation incentives – offered through the Business Energy Tax Credit program, which ended last year – launched with an imperative for “job creation and retention requirements.”

Tesla Motors news reported that the energy company played its role by installing panels manufactured by Oregon labors, but they were imprisoned at Sheridan Federal Prison and instead of enjoying the program, which was expected to contribute to the growth of the regional economy, they were paid a wage rate lesser than $1 for their labor.

Oregon universities opted for a huge solar array scheme that would provide job opportunities. As described by Oregonian, the first developer left out, as he believed that tax credits will not be offered, and the second developer, Renewable Energy Development Corporation, suffered from bankruptcy.

The schools then contacted the Mr. Musk’s company, which would develop the project and fix panels produced by another enterprise, Solar World. This is how things took place for the first two stages of five stages of the venture, with manufacturing the panels at a plant located in Hillsboro, Ore., where it paid wages better than the minimum wage rate. SolarCity used prison-produced panels from another company, Suniva, in the last three phases of the project.