Polysilicon manufacturer REC Silicon reported FBR production capacity reduction for the third quarter after a fire incident occurred in a silane facility in Moses Lake on July 1.
On July 1, during the startup of REC Solar’s Silane IV facility an oil fire occurred in one of three gas fired oil heaters. REC Silicon emergency response personnel were activated at 7:30 AM, extinguished the fire, and an all clear was given at 10:03 AM. There were no injuries or releases of process chemicals caused by this incident.
However, the fire will cause limitation on silane gas supply and granular FBR polysilicon production capacity in near future. REC Silicon estimates that about 800MT of FBR capacity will be impacted in the third quarter, while the origin production capacity expectation was 3,800MT.
As for capacity in the fourth quarter, there is no anticipated change to the previously guided volume.
The Silane III facility, which started up in May and is operating at near full capacity, was not impacted by the fire.