January 10, 2013 - Due to continued market and price pressures for solar grade polysilicon, Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC) has chosen to temporarily reduce Siemens-based solar grade silicon production at its Moses Lake, WA, USA, facility by 2,400 MT. The production reduction will be specific to the Polysilicon I facility where the solar grade chunk material is produced. Granular solar grade polysilicon from REC's proprietary Fluid Bed Reactor process and electronic grade polysilicon production at the Butte facility are scheduled to produce 20,000 MT of polysilicon in 2013.
This decision will result in a reduction of 46 positions. The Silicon division of REC will endeavor to utilize some of the affected employees to fill existing vacancies.
"To remain competitive, the organization in Moses Lake has worked very hard this past year to drive operating costs down, but under these current economic conditions it is not viable to continue production when market prices for the Siemens solar chunk product has fallen well below the cost to produce it," said Tore Torvund, President, Silicon.