The worlds largest polysilicon producer, GCL-Poly is to make a major investment in adding 25,000MT of granular silicon capacity using FBR (Fluidized Bed Reactor) technology the company has spent several years developing in-house.

Current polysilicon production has been based on the traditional Siemens method, which the company has a nameplate capacity of 65,000MT per annum.

FBR-based granular silicon offers the potential for lower production costs, primarily due to significantly lower energy consumption. GCL-Poly only noted that the FBR capacity would come on stream in the 2014 to 2015 timeline.

First quarter performance

GCL-Poly reported first quarter 2014 polysilicon production stood at approximately 16,022MT, representing an increase of approximately 85.2% compared with 8,653MT in the first quarter of 2013.

External polysilicon sales volume in the quarter increase approximately 8.7% to 4,024MT, compared to 3,702MT in the prior year period.

GCL-Poly reported the average selling price of polysilicon sold was US$21.67/kg in the quarter, a significant increase from US$16.62/kg in the first quarter of 2013 and inline with general polysilicon ASPs in the quarter, due to increased demand.

GCL-Poly reported solar wafer production volume of approximately 2,884MW, representing an increase of approximately 134.3% compared with 1,231MW over the first quarter of 2013.

The Group sold 2,750MW of wafers during the first quarter of 2014, representing an increase of approximately 85.6% compared with 1,482MW over the first quarter of 2013.

Wafer ASPs in the quarter were US$0.23/W, up from US$0.21/W in the prior year period.

Wafer nameplate capacity was said to have reached 12GW at the end of the first quarter of 2014, with plans to increase capacity to 13GW by the end of 2014.