Solar silicon producer progressing rapidly toward first commercial-scale facility in Iceland
March 25, 2015 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Silicor Materials, Inc., a producer of high-quality solar silicon, today announced the signing of a multi-million dollar equipment contract with SMS Siemag, a global player in machinery and plant construction in steel and nonferrous metals processing, for Silicor’s commercial-scale plant in Grundartangi, Iceland. The Iceland plant is expected to be the lowest-cost silicon plant in the world.
“The Silicor project provides the potential to fundamentally improve the supply chain for the production of solar silicon”
The companies have worked together for more than four years to develop an efficient and highly automated plant with a throughput guarantee from SMS of 16,000 metric tons (MT). Silicor’s management plans to optimize the Iceland plant to achieve an additional 20 percent throughput. Silicor Chairman John Correnti said, “In my 30 years working with SMS, they have continually overperformed.”
Under the terms of the agreement, SMS will supply all equipment and factory design services for the plant, including the associated engineering drawings and documents, supplies, technical and installation support necessary for the completion of the project. The Icelandic plant is expected to be the first in a series of facilities for which Silicor intends to contract with SMS.
“The Silicor project provides the potential to fundamentally improve the supply chain for the production of solar silicon,” said Dr. Guido Kleinschmidt, member of the Executive Board at SMS Siemag. “It is based on the environmentally friendly utilization of Iceland’s natural resource of renewable energy, which fully complies with SMS’ ‘Ecoplants’ vision to provide ecological and economical optimized metallurgical plants. We are proud to work together with Silicor and its Icelandic partners for the realization of this important project.”
Currently powering more than 20 million photovoltaic (PV) cells around the world, Silicor’s solar silicon is a lower-cost alternative to traditional polysilicon that uniquely enables manufacturers to optimize costs. The material is produced through a proprietary metals-based process that consumes two-thirds less energy than traditional methods and requires no toxic chemicals.
Further financial discussions around the initial phase of the facility are progressing as anticipated
“We’re taking meaningful steps to get this plant off the ground in an aggressive timeframe, and the progress we’ve made in just a few months underscores our commitment to both the Icelandic community and to our customers,” said Silicor Materials CEO Theresa Jester. “SMS Siemag has nearly 140 years’ experience with projects of this type in the metals business, which makes the company a natural partner as we ramp production. Together, we are working to revolutionize the economics of the solar industry.”
