REC’s announcement on December 15th, 2008 regarding the requirement of repair work on its Moses Lake Plant III has seen the work continue into the second week of February 2009. It seems there was close to double the expected amount of welding work to be done, leading to the unscheduled delay in preparing the plant for commercial polysilicon production, which has now been scheduled for the second half of March.
The final step in the preparation of the plant involves a process of systems checks and start-up procedures. If, as expected, the ramp-up goes without any issues, REC ASA is projecting production of 10,000-11,000MT of polysilicon for 2009, despite the extended delays. The company will provide an update with its interim results for the fourth quarter 2008, to be issued on February 18th, 2009.
“As previously stated, start-up and ramp-up of a large chemical plant is a complex task, and some interruptions should be expected in an early phase. We hope, however, that our extensive testing and preparations will reduce this risk to some extent”, commented Erik Thorsen, President & CEO.