The Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) is a

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovolta ...

company with headquarters in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. REC produces silicon materials for

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

(PV) applications and multicrystalline wafers, as well as solar cells and modules. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance New Energy Solar. The previous parent company of REC was

ChemChina China National Chemical Corporation, commonly known as ChemChina, is a Chinese state-owned chemical company in the product segments of agrochemicals, rubber products, chemical materials and specialty chemicals, industrial equipment, and petroch ...

, one of the largest chemical companies and state-owned by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, which held its stake in

Elkem Elkem is a company that produces silicones, silicon, alloys for the foundry industry, carbon and microsilica, and other materials. Elkem was founded in 1904, has more than 7,000 employees and fields 30 production sites worldwide. Elkem has an ope ...

since 2015 through the China National Bluestar Group. The purchase price was 490 million euros. On 10 October 2021, Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries announced that its subsidiary, Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd, had acquired complete control of REC from China National Bluestar Group for US$771 million.

History

The predecessor of today's company was established in 1996 under the name Fornybar Energi AS. Today's company is a result of a fusion in September 2000 between ScanWafer AS, SolEnergy AS and Fornybar Energi AS. In 2002 REC ScanCell started production of multicrystalline solar cells in Narvik for the sister company REC ScanModule in Glava, Arvika. REC Wafer was at the time the world's largest producer of multicrystalline wafers with factories in Glomfjord and at

Herøya Herøya is a peninsula in the municipality of Porsgrunn, Norway. It is located between the fjords of Frierfjord to the west and Gunneklevfjord to the east, at the mouth of Telemarksvassdraget. The name stems from the Old Norse word "her-eyjar" m ...

. Immediately after its IPO in 2006, the

share price A share price is the price of a single share of a number of saleable equity shares of a company. In layman's terms, the stock price is the highest amount someone is willing to pay for the stock, or the lowest amount that it can be bought for. B ...

of the company soared, reaching a peak of NOK 262 in November 2007, corresponding to a market capitalization of NOK 174 billion. Based on this value, the company was at the time the largest wholly privately owned company in Norway. In 2007, REC decided to build its new worldscale integrated solar manufacturing facility in Singapore, the world’s largest integrated solar manufacturing complex. When completed, the manufacturing complex was planned to incorporate wafer, cell and module production facilities, with a production capacity of up to 1.5 gigawatts (GW). The development of this site was projected to enable REC’s ability to deliver solar products that can compete with traditional energy sources in the sunny areas of the world without government incentives. In 2008 and 2009 two new factories for multicrystalling wafers were opened at Herøya. In August 2008 REC made the decision to build a new facility for silicon manufacturing expansion in Bécancour,

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Included in the decision is a 20-year power contract with Hydro-Québec for the delivery of electricity at a competitive industrial rate. In 2010, fully automated and integrated production of wafers, cells, and panels began at the company's state-of-the-art factory in Singapore

Crisis during 2008-2009

During 2008 and 2009, the company faced a crisis with falling income and increasing debt. As of May 2010, the market capitalization is down to 18 billion NOK. The large drop in value has been partially blamed on the

financial crisis A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

, which caused a near halving of the price of silicon wafers, as well as increasing costs of investments, in particular due to delays in opening a new factory in

Moses Lake, Washington Moses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 25,146 as of the 2020 census. Moses Lake is the largest city in Grant County. The city anchors the Moses Lake Micropolitan area, which includes all of Grant C ...

Crisis during 2011 and 2012

In addition due to the continued weak market conditions and prospects of significant negative cash flow, the board of directors announced in October that REC would permanently close down the production capacity at the oldest multicrystalline wafer plants at Herøya, the multicrystalline wafer plant in Glomfjord and the solar cell plant in Narvik. The remaining Norwegian plant, at Herøya, was closed down in 2012. Its wafer subsidiary, REC Wafer Norway AS, is planning to file for insolvency. All of REC's solar cell and wafer production plants in Norway were shut down permanently in 2011 and 2012 due to weak market conditions and prospects of significant negative cash flow.

Split

In 2013, REC was split and a splinter company, Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (REC Silicon) was formed. The splinter company consisted of the silicon manufacturing facilities at

and Butte, Montana and is based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. At these plants, REC Silicon produces polysilicon and silane gas for the solar industry and the electronics industry. REC Silicon produced 21,405 MT of polysilicon in 2012, and targets a production of 20,000 MT polysilicon in 2013. ¹ Estimated production/capacity

Operations

Solar

REC produce multicrystalline solar cells and solar panels. ¹ Estimated production/capacity
² Numbers not available
³ Plant closed down

Commercial agreements

REC has entered into a significant long-term agreement for supply of mono-crystalline silicon

wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light and dry biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. Wafers can also be made into cookies with cream flavoring sandwiched between them. They ...

to Suniva, Inc. Under the agreement, REC will until 2013 deliver wafers worth more than US$300 million. REC also entered into a significant long-term agreement for supply of mono-crystalline silicon wafers to China Sunergy Co. Ltd. Under the agreement, REC were to deliver wafers worth more than US$400 million until 2015. It was structured as a take-or-pay contract with pre-determined prices and volumes for the entire contract period. However, in 2009, this contract became the cause of a legal battle between REC and China Sunergy. As spot prices for wafers fell dramatically in 2009, China Sunergy found itself bound to prices well below spot, prompting a stall in purchasing, leading REC to terminate the contract.http://cleantech.com/news/5147/china-sunergy-seeks-rec-wafer-injun China Sunergy seeks REC Wafer injunction extension

Listings

The shares are listed on the

Photovoltaik Global 30 Index Photovoltaik Global 30 Index is a German stock market index which includes up to 30 companies in the photovoltaics sector. It was introduced on 1 June 2009. The constituting companies and their weightings are reviewed quarterly (March, June, Sep ...

since the beginning of this stock index in 2009. During the past few years REC's stock price has gradually come down as a result of the demanding times in the solar industry due to overcapacity and heavy price pressure on solar products.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Solar energy companies Solar power in Norway Engineering companies of Norway Electric power companies of Norway Photovoltaics manufacturers Manufacturing companies of Norway Companies based in Oslo Energy companies established in 1996 Manufacturing companies established in 1996 Renewable resource companies established in 1996 Companies listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange Norwegian brands Norwegian companies established in 1996 Reliance Industries