With this transfer, the corporate has “totally exited” direct and oblique investments into the Siemens methodology of polysilicon manufacturing in favour of granular polysilicon manufacturing.
FBR vs Siemens
Fluidised Mattress Reactor (FBR) granular polysilicon manufacturing is less expensive and makes use of much less vitality than the Siemens methodology. Nonetheless, it has historically struggled to succeed in the identical product purity as Siemens manufacturing, which is required for high-efficiency photo voltaic merchandise.
Broadly talking, that is due to the contact that FBR polysilicon has with the wall of its container in the course of the manufacturing course of, versus the separation between Siemens course of rods and the reactor wall.
In 2021, GCL claimed that its FBR manufacturing had reached comparable purity with Siemens methodology polysilicon. Till lately, REC Silicon was a frontrunner within the FBR house, producing polysilicon with this methodology within the US, although the corporate adandoned this enterprise late final 12 months.
In feedback to PV Tech, polysilicon market analyst Johannes Bernreuter mentioned: “GCL just isn’t alone with FBR expertise in China. Shaanxi Non-ferrous Tianhong REC Silicon Supplies Co., Ltd. (TianREC), REC Silicon’s former three way partnership, can also be producing granular polysilicon; two new entrants have began establishing FBR vegetation. Most significantly, market chief Tongwei is constructing a ten,000 MT FBR pilot plant, based on an environmental influence evaluation report introduced by the federal government of Leshan, Sichuan province in February.
“With its massive FBR capability of 480,000 metric tons, GCL is actually a powerful promoter of the expertise. Nonetheless…I imagine that FBR expertise is not going to substitute the Siemens course of, given the excessive purity necessities for n-type ingots and photo voltaic cells.”
GCL additionally mentioned it had now “redirected its focus” away from the XUAR to its 4 100,000-ton granular polysilicon manufacturing bases throughout China: Xuzhou (Jiangsu), Leshan (Sichuan), Hohhot and Baotou (Inside Mongolia).
The XUAR area has change into infamous for the worldwide allegations of compelled labour enacted by the Chinese language state on the Uyghur Muslim inhabitants. In its announcement, GCL mentioned a “consultant emphasised the corporate’s dedication to human rights as a cornerstone of its operations”.
Allegations of compelled labour within the photo voltaic provide chain have been identified for not less than the final 4 years, for the reason that publication of the ‘In Broad Daylight’ report by teachers at Sheffield Hallam College within the UK in 2021.
Polysilicon worth stoop
GCL has introduced these adjustments following a difficult 12 months for the corporate and the broader polysilicon manufacturing sector.
Bernreuter instructed PV Tech: “GCL has strategically moved on this path with a view to obtain decrease manufacturing prices to stay aggressive, partly pushed by the upper electrical energy fee for GCL’s first manufacturing base in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, in comparison with the low charges in Xinjiang and Inside Mongolia.”
Low costs, caused by oversupply, noticed GCL and its friends Daqo New Vitality, Xinte Vitality and Tongewi Photo voltaic publish losses within the first half of 2024.
GCL posted US$400 million in losses within the first 9 months of 2024, which it blamed on low polysilicon and silicon wafer costs.
The corporate mentioned it noticed the typical price of granular polysilicon fall under the promoting worth in January and February 2025, which it mentioned “marks vital price reductions and regular worth will increase.”
Nonetheless, knowledge from InfoLink, EnergyTrend and the Shanghai Metals Market (displayed under) exhibits that the typical worth of polysilicon is but to considerably get better from its sharp drop over the past two years.
There’s nonetheless disparity between corporations’ nameplate polysilicon manufacturing capability, their precise manufacturing and their shipments. GCL mentioned its manufacturing capability in 2024 reached 480,000 tonnes, whereas it really produced 269,200 tonnes and shipped 281,900 tonnes over the 12 months.
In December, Tongwei and Daqo New Vitality each introduced manufacturing cuts to minimise the impacts of worth competitors.
Nonetheless, in a LinkedIn publish final week, Bernreuter Analysis mentioned that the obvious cuts in manufacturing have been unlikely to final and wouldn’t have any vital influence on polysilicon costs.
Bernreuter mentioned: “Since China’s month-to-month polysilicon output of considerably lower than 100,000MT is mainly not decrease than consumption, the stock mountain piled up in 2024 is hardly carried off. This is the reason the polysilicon worth has remained unchanged since early January.
“Furthermore, new polysilicon manufacturing capacities in China are slated to return on stream within the second quarter. That’s making a big – if any – rise of the polysilicon worth increasingly more unlikely within the coming weeks and months.”
