While many polysilicon producers in China are struggling, Daqo New Energy appears to be going from strength to strength.
Daqo’s Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Gongda Yao, stated earlier this month that the company’s new Xinjiang polysilicon plant continued to contribute positive cash flow.
“In April, we successfully conducted several technical improvement projects which reduced our production cost below $16/kg, which is significantly lower than our original target of $20/kg”.
Dr. Yao expects the facility to generate positive operating income in the third quarter of this year and by expanding production capacity to a planned 6,150 MT by the end of 2013, production costs may reduce to $14/kg.
Daqo also plans to increase its wafer production capacity at Wanzhou to 6 million pieces per month.
“We expect that our wafer facilities will achieve positive operating income by the end of 2013 when we fully ramp up the capacity,” said Dr Yao.
Daqo is seen as a golden child in China’s troubled polysilicon sector and a likely winner in the shakeout currently occurring. It is one of only a handful of companies approved to receive priority funding support from China Development Bank Corp.
There seems to be no shortage of customers knocking on Daqo’s door who are eager to obtain its products; based on 9N polysilicon. At 99.9999999% purity, 9N silicon is used in premium-grade solar cells. According to RechargeNews, Daqo has secured three new significant orders running through next year.
Relatively unknown in Australia just a couple of years ago; awareness of Daqo has increased since national solar power solutions provider Energy Matters began offering Daqo solar panels as an option for commercial and residential solar installations.
Attractive due to their high quality and performance at a comparatively low cost; Energy Matters states that to date not a single Daqo solar panel has been returned under warranty.
