ReneSola Ltd announced the Company restarted production at its Sichuan polysilicon plant on July 1, 2013, following upgrades to its furnaces and hydrochlorination technology.
The Company had halted polysilicon production in November of last year in order to complete the upgrades, as well as to integrate its Phase II production facilities with those of Phase I for a combined polysilicon production capacity of 10,000 metric tons ("MT"). Among the upgrades were new proprietary reduction furnaces and improved, proprietary hydrochlorination technology, which reduces energy consumption to less than 100 kilowatt-hour ("kWh") per kilogram ("kg"), compared to 145 kWh/kg before the upgrades.
ReneSola began trial production at its newly integrated 10,000-MT polysilicon plant in the first quarter of 2013 and commenced full production on July 1. In the third quarter of 2013, the Company expects to produce approximately 1,800 to 2,000 MT of polysilicon with a production cost of approximately $18/kg, compared to approximately 1,176 MT of polysilicon with a production cost of approximately $24/kg in the third quarter of 2012.
Mr. Xianshou Li, ReneSola's chief executive officer, said, "Our polysilicon plant upgrades are key to reducing our overall wafer and module production costs, as well as shielding us from volatility in the polysilicon market. We're confident our expanded, internal polysilicon production will continue to lower our production costs, which will give us an advantage over our competitors and help us deliver positive results to our shareholders."