February 12, 2019

Tariffs on  Chinese polysilicon imports as part of the 2014 trade dispute over Chinese solar panels and American polysilicon have caused REC Silicon to suspend operations at its Moses Lake, Washington polysilicon production facility in the USA from March 1. China imposed tariffs on polysilicon imports from the U.S. in 2014 in response to the U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar panels, effectively cutting off REC Silicon and other producers in the USA from the world’s largest market.

More information at: pv magazine

Update on pv magazine 8-4-2020:

Norwegian polysilicon and silane gas company REC Silicon ASA is fast approaching its effective exit from the solar market after revealing in its second-quarter update it had sold off the last 62 MT of PV-grade poly produced at its plant in Moses Lake, Washington, which has been shuttered for over a year.

The import duties applied on U.S.-made polysilicon by the Chinese authorities which have effectively shut REC out of the world’s biggest market prompted the company to close its Moses Lake fluidized bed reactor facility in the second quarter of last year. As a result, the company’s solar materials division generated revenue of only $300,000 in the April-to-June window as it contributed a $2.3 million hit to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, following a $2.8 million deficit to the bottom line in the first three months of the year.