China-based maker GCL-Poly Energy Holdings produced 16,022 tonnes of polysilicon in the first quarter of 2014, increasing 7.5% on quarter and 85.2% on year, according to the company.
With a large portion of polysilicon used in-house use to produce solar-grade crystalline silicon wafers, GCL-Poly supplied 4,024 tonnes of polysilicon to customers in the first quarter and the ASP of US$21.67/kg rose 16.5% on quarter and 30.4% on year, the company indicated.
GCL-Poly fully utilized its annual polysilicon production capacity of 65,000 tonnes in the first quarter and is introducing FBR (fluidized-bed reactor) manufacturing to increase production efficiency. FBR-based annual capacity is expected to reach 12,000 tonnes at the end of 2014 and 13,000 tonnes in 2015. In addition, GCL-Poly will use in-house power-generating facilities to reduce average production costs by US$4/kg to US$12/kg.
GCL-Poly turned out 2.884GWp of solar-grade crystalline silicon wafers in the first quarter, hitting a quarterly record with growth of 9.5% on quarter and 134.3% on year, and shipped 2.750GWp at an ASP of US$0.23/W.
GCL-Poly expanded its annual solar-grade silicon wafer production capacity from 10GWp at the beginning of 2014 to 12GWp at the end of the first quarter.
In the first quarter, GCL-Poly sold 1,539.6GWh of electricity generated from its invested PV systems or stations in China, growing 27.2% on year.