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In the wake of Hurricane Ike, MEMC Electronic Materials has experienced some production slowdowns largely caused by delays in raw materials deliveries from suppliers to the company's Pasadena, TX, polysilicon plant. As a result, the company has updated its financial outlook and lowered its third-quarter revenue targets from a previous guidance range of $560 million-$620 million to $520 million-$540 million.

MEMC Electronic Materials reports that it has begun to take safety precautions at its Pasadena, TX, polysilicon facility near Houston in preparation for Hurricane Ike, a Category 3 storm in the Gulf of Mexico likely to make landfall in the next few days on the southeast Texas coast. 

MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. has announced the signing of an agreement for the supply of solar wafers to the value of over $3 billion to Tainergy Tech Co., Ltd., a Taiwan-based solar cell manufacturer. The agreement, which will see MEMC provide Tainergy with solar wafers for the next ten years, will commence in the third quarter of 2008. The price of the wafers has been pre-determined, allowing for an estimate of the value of the deal.

Despite recent disruptions at its Pasadena manufacturing plant that reduced revenues for the first quarter of 2008 by approximately 10 percent, MEMC said in a conference call with financial analysts that its target of reaching 8,000MT of polysilicon production in 2008 was on target.

MEMC Electronic Materials has said that a production problem at its Pasadena, Texas facility had impacted its utilization rate by approximately 20 percent. The lower than anticipated output would also impact revenues in the quarter.

MEMC Electronic Materials has entered into a 10-year definitive agreement valued at between $7 and $8 billion to supply solar grade silicon wafers to Conergy at pre-determined prices. The supply deal will start in the third quarter of 2008, MEMC said.