During the 2011 third quarter, the company generated operating cash flow of $187.7 million and free cash flow of $283.9 million in a challenging environment. Free cash flow was driven by operations including deferred revenue from solar project sales, solar energy system financing and customer deposits, partially offset by construction spend on solar energy systems and capital spending. See the reconciliation of free cash flow in the financial statement tables at the end of this press release.
Capital expenditures were $82.3 million in the 2011 third quarter, down from $102.7 million in the 2011 second quarter. In addition to maintenance spend, additional capital spending was primarily related to semiconductor 300mm wafer production capacity. Given the current solar materials market environment, we continue to focus on increasing productivity at our existing Kuching, Malaysia and Portland, Oregon facilities rather than capacity expansion at these facilities.
Construction of solar energy systems of $243.5 million in the 2011 third quarter included solar energy projects currently classified as owned and carried as fixed assets. The majority of these projects are expected to become sale-leaseback transactions in which the assets are financed with non-recourse debt. Projects expected to result in direct sales are held in inventory, thus impacting operating cash flows as noted above.
MEMC ended the 2011 third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $786.1 million, an increase of $134.2 million from the prior quarter. The 2011 third quarter balance of $786.1 million excludes $133.3 million of long and short-term restricted cash.
Following is additional detail on third quarter 2011 results by segment.
Semiconductor Materials
Semiconductor Materials revenue was $268.4 million, a decrease of 3% compared to the 2011 second quarter and an increase of 3% compared to the 2010 third quarter. The sequential decrease was driven by lower volume from a broad based semiconductor market slowdown, partially offset by slightly higher average selling prices and a better product mix. The year-over-year increase was primarily the result of higher average selling prices.
Segment operating profit was $18.5 million, compared to $3.4 million in the 2011 second quarter, and $26.2 million in the 2010 third quarter. Higher sequential operating profit was due in part to higher charges in the 2011 second quarter associated with recovery from the earthquake in Japan and restructuring. Lower year-over-year operating profit was due to higher operating expense associated with our 200mm production ramp in Ipoh, Malaysia, additional earthquake related costs in Japan, and unfavorable currency effects.