REC Silicon introduced that it’s ceasing manufacturing at its Moses Lake, Washington, facility. The corporate shut down its polysilicon production facility in Montana earlier this 12 months as nicely. REC Silicon now has no working polysilicon efforts inside the US.
The corporate mentioned that whereas manufacturing of polysilicon might be discontinued in Moses Lake, the gear concerned in manufacturing of silicon gases might be maintained in a “protected and recoverable mode that incurs minimal interim prices, permitting the unit to restart with affordable discover.” This may permit REC Silicon to capitalize on future buyer demand for silicon anode or different gases throughout the power cupboard space.
The corporate acknowledged it’ll now focus its enterprise efforts on silicon gases.
The once-globally dominating polysilicon firm was on monitor to be step one in Hanwha Options’ quest to provide photo voltaic panels with a 100% American provide chain — REC Silicon polysilicon could be despatched to Hanwha’s Qcells factories in Georgia to be made into ingots, wafers, cells after which panels. Hanwha grew to become the biggest shareholder in REC Silicon in 2022 and deliberate to purchase all of the polysilicon product made in Moses Lake for 10 years. Hanwha’s funding in REC Silicon allowed the corporate to restart its Moses Lake operations after pressure from the Chinese market pressured REC Silicon to shut the positioning in 2018.
REC Silicon introduced to shareholders that it started restricted polysilicon manufacturing at Moses Lake in late 2023. The corporate had been engaged on enhancing the degrees of impurities that “resulted primarily from the post-reactor product ending and dealing with programs.” This included altering supplies, procedures and working situations. REC Silicon labored with third-parties to judge the scenario however in the end was unsuccessful in makes an attempt to rectify the problems.
The corporate acquired an “unsuccessful qualification check” earlier this month by its buyer (assumed to be Hanwha). This was as a result of “lower-than-expected ranges of crystallization and the ingot yield noticed within the testing runs, which the client deemed to not be acceptable for his or her manufacturing course of at this stage.”
REC Silicon mentioned its buyer is unable to attend any longer for supply of product that meets necessities, though manufacturing efforts on the Qcells ingot and wafer facility in Georgia has not but began itself. REC Silicon mentioned that with no different prospects in the US and restricted prospects exterior of China, the best choice is to stop manufacturing solely.
REC Silicon mentioned it’s now in discussions with its buyer relating to the cancellation of its contract, together with the “elimination of any penalties and a deferral of the reimbursement of the preliminary pre-payment.”
The shutdown at Moses Lake will begin instantly and will take three months. The workforce there might be diminished accordingly.
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