• By .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) - 25 May 2009, 18:14
  • In News

REC Wafer temporarily ramps down production capacity by 35%

In another sign of the challenging market conditions across the solar PV manufacturing value chain, REC Wafer has decided to temporarily ramp down about 35% of its production capacity. The reduction will affect approximately 180 employees, according to the company.

"We have seen an increasingly difficult market so far this year and need to take measures to optimize our capacity utilization and secure flexibility in regards to timing of product deliveries," said executive VP Ingelise Arntsen. "Although we temporarily take out a part of our capacity, we follow the market development closely and are making sure that we stay prepared to increase production on short notice."   Since REC Wafer has not yet decided on the timing of a restart, the company said that it is not prepared to indicate the expected effect of the temporary reduction in capacity utilization on the overall annual production of wafers in 2009.
The company also stated that it is also too early to quantify the financial consequences for REC Wafer, and that continued production at full capacity would have required external purchases of polysilicon at spot prices that are higher than the price levels in the long-term polysilicon supply contracts.
The company previously announced that REC Silicon's polysilicon production should increase when commercial production from the new Silicon III resumes in 3Q09.

We Recommend

Latest in News

Newsletter

Preview Latest Subscribe
We won't share your details - promise!

Publications

  • Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

    Photovoltaics International 14th Edition

    Published in November 2011, the 14th edition of Photovoltaics International provides a variety of technical papers from some of the industry’s stalwarts. Features include: TÜV Rheinland on junction box testing; Laser Zentrum Hannover on laser edge isolation of mc-Si cells; Calisolar on the importance of traceability; Fraunhofer ISE on EWT cells; and EPIA on Europe’s LCOE.

  • Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    Photovoltaics International Lite, Volume 05 - 2011

    This digital interactive Lite sees Tom Cheyney follow Agua Caliente’s progress on becoming one of first truly utility-scale PV power farms, where 40–50MW (AC) will be commissioned by the end of the year. We also feature one of the world’s largest silicon thin-film PV power plants, Avenal; a report on warnings of the collapse of module prices from Solarbuzz and PI-Berlin presents tips on PV module testing. A print version of this edition will be distributed at Solar Power International 2011 in Dallas, Texas.

  • Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2011 Production Annual

    Manufacturing The Solar Future: The 2011 Production Annual

    Manufacturing the Solar Future is the primary source guide for detailed information on the PV production process. This annual provides technical details on how the leading companies and research organizations worldwide are addressing this need by dramatically improving their manufacturing processes.

Latest in TV & Video

Partners

Acknowledgements

Solar Media