REC Silicon announced plans to restart production of polysilicon at its Moses Lake factory in Washington, USA.  First production is expected in Q4 2023.

REC Silicon owns two polysilicon manufacturing facilities in the USA, with an annual production capacity of 18ktpy at Moses Lake and 2ktpy at Butte in Montana. The Moses Lake facility has been dormant for several years, owing to strong competition in China.

REC Silicon’s CEO noted that the restart of production is a direct result of Hanwha Solutions’ commitment to REC Silicon.  Hanwha has invested over US$200M to become the largest shareholder in REC, with a view to focussing on polysilicon used in semiconductor markets, solar energy materials, and battery materials opportunities.  Hanwha is intent on building out a North American solar supply chain.  Its solar module division, Qcells, has announced a second module assembly plant in Georgia, bringing its module manufacturing capacity to 3.1GW.

Hanwha is also expanding its solar cell manufacturing footprint in South Korea.  The company intends to take REC Silicon polysilicon from the USA, make solar cells in South Korea and then use those cells in its final solar panel assembly in Georgia. 

Polysilicon demand growth is driven mainly by its use in PV solar cells and semiconductors.  Additional silicon demand growth potential comes from its use in the anode of lithium-ion batteries, due to its high gravimetric theoretical lithium storage capacity compared to conventional graphite anodes, and its relatively low discharge voltage.  However, the commercialisation of this technology has been limited: silicon’s ability to accommodate large amount of lithium causes the material to undergo significant volumetric changes during lithiation and delithiation.  Last week, Mercedes-Benz and Sila Nanotechnologies, a battery materials company, reported that they achieved a breakthrough with high silicon automotive batteries.  Earlier this month, Sila purchased an anode material battery facility in Moses Lake, Washington, adjacent to REC Silicon’s polysilicon plant, but REC Silicon noted no synergies or agreements in their quarterly call.