The Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) is a solar power company with headquarters in Norway. REC produces silicon materials for photovoltaics (PV) applications and multicrystalline wafers, as well as solar cells and modules. REC's business activities are organized into three divisions: REC Silicon, REC Solar, and REC Wafer.^[2]

REC has decided to build its new worldscale integrated solar manufacturing facility in Singapore, the world’s largest integrated solar manufacturing complex ^[3]. When completed, the manufacturing complex will incorporate wafer, cell and module production facilities, with a production capacity of up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW).^[4]

The development of this site will enable REC’s ability to deliver solar products that can compete with traditional energy sources in the sunny areas of the world without government incentives. ^[5]

In August 2008 REC made the decision to build a new facility for silicon manufacturing expansion in Bécancour, Quebec, Canada. Included in the decision is a 20-year power contract with Hydro-Québec for the delivery of electricity at a competitive industrial rate.^[6]

Operations[link]

REC Silicon[link]

REC Silicon operates two US-based plants, employing about 750 staff in Moses Lake, Washington and Butte, Montana. These facilities had an annual capacity of 6 500 MT of polysilicon and 9 000 MT of silane gas in 2008. Two new plants are under construction in Moses Lake which will give REC Silicon an additional 10 500 MT of polysilicon capacity coming online by the end of 2010.

¹ Estimated production/capacity

REC Wafer[link]

REC Wafer is producing multicrystalline and monocrystalline wafers for the solar industry. REC Wafer also produces monocrystalline ingots.

¹ Estimated production/capacity

REC Solar[link]

REC produce multicrystalline solar cells and modules.

¹ Estimated production/capacity
² Numbers not available
³ Plant closed down

Commercial agreements[link]

REC has entered into a significant long-term agreement for supply of mono-crystalline silicon wafer to Suniva, Inc. Under the agreement, REC will until 2013 deliver wafers worth more than USD 300 million.

REC also entered into a significant long-term agreement for supply of mono-crystalline silicon wafers to China Sunergy Co. Ltd. Under the agreement, REC were to deliver wafers worth more than USD 400 million until 2015. It was structured as a take-or-pay contract with pre-determined prices and volumes for the entire contract period.^[7] However, in 2009, this contract became the cause of a legal battle between REC and China Sunergy. As spot prices for wafers fell dramatically in 2009, China Sunergy found itself bound to prices well below spot, prompting a stall in purchasing, leading REC to terminate the contract.^[8]

Crisis during 2008-2009[link]

Immediately after its IPO in 2006, the share price of the company soared, reaching a peak of NOK 262 in November 2007, corresponding to a market capitalization of NOK 174 billion^[9]. Based on this value, the company was at the time the largest wholly privately owned company in Norway^[10]. During 2008 and 2009, the company faced a crisis with falling income and increasing debt. As of May 2010, the market capitalization is down to 18 billion NOK. The large drop in value has been partially blamed on the financial crisis^[11], which caused a near halving of the price of silicon wafers, as well as increasing costs of investments, in particular due to delays in opening a new factory in Moses Lake, Washington^[12].

Crisis during 2011[link]

During 2011, RECs stock price has been constantly dropping and fallen to the lowest level (NOK 4.34) since the company became public. In addition due to the continued weak market conditions and prospects of significant negative cash flow, the board of directors has announced that REC is considering a permanent closedown of the production capacity at the oldest multicrystalline wafer plants at Herøya, the multicrystalline wafer plant in Glomfjord and the solar cell plant in Narvik.

See also[link]

• Renewable energy companies on the stock exchange
• Economic Development Board (EDB)
• Low cost solar cell
• Q-Cells
• Take-or-pay contract

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website