Dive Brief:
- Chemical maker REC Silicon plans to close its polysilicon facility in Moses Lake, Washington, the company announced last month.
- The company is cutting 224 jobs and began layoffs Jan. 16, according to a post on the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act website.
- REC expects to shut down the facility immediately, which could take about three months, the company said in the release.
Dive Insight:
The Norway-based company’s Moses Lake facility has had a tumultuous journey over the past year due to manufacturing issues, including shutdowns and capacity shortages that affected production for solar cell manufacturer Qcells, according to the company’s Q3 2024 presentation.
Qcells conducted ingot tests using samples provided by REC of ultra-high purity polysilicon, a Qcells spokesperson said in an email to Manufacturing Dive. Polysilicon is a material used in the semiconductor and solar cell manufacturing process.
The tests failed, which pushed REC’s sole customer for the material to cancel the pair’s supply contract.
Qcells declined to comment on the contract but said it will secure polysilicon for its Cartersville, Georgia, facility from OCI Holdings’ factory in Sarawak, Malaysia.
REC is currently in the midst of ceasing polysilicon production at its other U.S. facility in Butte, Montana, a process that began last year in a bid to cut costs and reduce energy consumption, the company said in an email to Manufacturing Dive. Once the Butte facility shuts down polysilicon production, it will focus on the silicon gases business.
REC took steps to rectify the situation, including changing contact materials and bringing in third parties to help with evaluating and mitigating its issues. To fund its Moses Lake operations, the company received $130 million in loans from South Korea-based KEB Hana Bank and New York-based Standard Chartered Bank. Chipmaker Hanwha also provided REC a $25 million loan to restart and progressively ramp up production.
Qcells’ parent company Hanwha Solutions became REC’s largest stakeholder in March 2022 in a bid to expand its renewable energy portfolio in the U.S., according to a press release.
The following year, REC and Hanwha signed a 10-year supply deal for the chemical maker’s fluidized bed reactor granular polysilicon. The Moses Lake facility was to produce the material for the solar panel maker’s facilities in Georgia.
The Moses Lake facility also produces silane gas, a chemical used in electric vehicle batteries. In September 2024, REC signed an agreement to supply battery materials company Sila Nanotechnologies with silane gas from the site.
The deal is not impacted by the chemical maker’s Washington facility closure, the battery materials maker said in an email to Manufacturing Dive. Instead, Sila will receive its silane gas from REC’s Butte facility.
