N EWS OF THE WE E K
POLYSILICON MAKERS PARE BACK SOLAR GLUT: Low prices and tariff
threats force cutbacks, layoffs
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REC will cut polysilicon production at this plant in Moses Lake, Wash.
WO MANUFACTURERS of polysilicon, a key raw
REC
material for solar panels, are reducing production, laying off workers, and postponing planned new capacity because of oversupply and plunging prices. The announcements, by Hemlock Semiconductor and Renewable Energy Corp. (REC), don’t surprise analysts, who say a two-year glut of finished solar panels has rippled throughout the solar supply chain. Hemlock, majority owned by Dow Corning, will reduce production at its main site in Hemlock, Mich., and lay off 100 of the plant’s 1,000 workers. In addition, it will postpone the start-up of a $1.2 billion facility in Clarksville, Tenn., a decision that will cost 300 jobs. If the oversupply persists,
A NEW RADIOACTIVE WASTE STRATEGY The Obama Administration canceled construction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in 2010 after years of development.
ENERGY: Federal plan calls for
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interim storage site by 2021, geologic repository by 2048
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HE U.S. HAS TAKEN another step on a seem-
ingly endless path to address the fate of some 68,000 metric tons of high-level radioactive waste currently stored all over the country at more than 100 operating nuclear power plants and other facilities. On Jan. 11, the Department of Energy announced a nuclear waste strategy that for the first time includes selecting and constructing at least one temporary, centralized storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste. The plan also includes selection and construction of at least one permanent geological repository. The strategy, however, puts off the interim facility for a decade, and the repository would not be expected to be in operation until 2048—more than 100 years after the dawn of the nuclear age and 50 years after a congressionally mandated deadline by which the Yucca Mountain repository in Nevada was supposed to be in operation. The strategy is DOE’s plan to implement a year-old W W W.CEN- ONLI NE.ORG
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Hemlock says, it could make the layoffs permanent. The company also blames a trade dispute for adding to volatility in the solar materials market. Last March, the U.S. imposed tariffs on finished solar modules made in China because of complaints by U.S. firms that Chinese competitors were dumping subsidized products on the U.S. market. Now, China is threatening to place tariffs on U.S. polysilicon exported to China. The threat “has significantly decreased orders from China, which is home to one of the largest markets for our products,” says Hemlock President Andrew Tometich. Meanwhile, Norwegian polysilicon producer REC will cut production at its Moses Lake, Wash., facility and eliminate 46 positions. REC says polysilicon prices have fallen below the cost of production at the plant. In October, another major manufacturer, Wacker Chemie, said it had reduced its polysilicon capacity utilization to 80% and would delay the start-up of its new plant in Charleston, Tenn., until 2015, 18 months late. The cutbacks and delays show that “the breaking point has been reached, because there is so much excess capacity,” says Shyam Mehta, senior solar analyst for GTM Research. When the new plants were first planned in 2008, he points out, polysilicon had reached record prices of $400 per kg. Since then, spot market prices have dropped to $17 per kg.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
report by the 15-member Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future. The commission was created by Energy Secretary Steven Chu in 2010 to assess radioactive waste options in light of President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel construction of the Yucca Mountain repository. DOE’s plan largely mirrors the commission’s recommendations. DOE and the commission both recommend a major reform of the repository site selection process that Congress established in the 1980s. The modifications include a phased development approach, more incentives to encourage communities to volunteer to be a home to a radioactive waste site, and creation of a nongovernmental organization to direct the overall radioactive waste-handling process. Such changes will require new legislation. Several members of the Senate have offered proposals, but in the House of Representatives, most Republicans, including Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee, have criticized DOE and the commission for failing to restart Yucca Mountain. That choice, however, was specifically ruled out in Obama’s charge to the commission. “If politics are allowed to derail a project set forth in 1983, there is no reason to believe this new effort will be any more successful,” Upton says. “We have the responsibility under the law to pursue Yucca Mountain as the nation’s long-term nuclear waste solution.”—JEFF JOHNSON
JANUARY 21, 20 13
