Oct 19 2008
Wacker Chemie AG plans to construct a new polysilicon production plant at its Nünchritz site (Saxony, Germany) with a nominal annual capacity of 10,000 metric tons. The Munich-based chemical company announced this decision today. The first batch of polysilicon from this “capacity expansion phase 9” project is scheduled for Q1 2011.
The new plant is expected to achieve full capacity by the end of 2011. WACKER has budgeted some €760 million for this project, which should create around 450 new jobs. The company has additionally decided to raise the nominal annual capacity planned for Burghausen’s “expansion phase 8” (currently under construction) from 7,000 to 10,000 metric tons. Thanks to these and other ongoing expansion measures, WACKER’s polysilicon capacity by year-end 2011 will reach 35,500 metric tons annually, compared to today’s 10,000 metric tons.
Output expansion will enable WACKER to meet the accelerating global demand it expects for hyperpure polycrystalline silicon. For coming years, WACKER anticipates continued double-digit annual growth in polysilicon demand by the solar-industry. The company likewise expects higher polysilicon demand from the electronics industry.
“We expect crystalline solar technology to show continued strong growth and customer demand for polysilicon to remain high,” said Dr.Rudolf Staudigl, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG. “Already the world’s second-largest polysilicon producer, we intend to reinforce and extend our market position by intensifying capacity expansion. Nünchritz’s highly advanced infrastructure and integrated production loops make it the logical choice for this expansion from a business and technical viewpoint.” According to the CEO, the closed material loops obtained by perfectly integrating the new facility into Nünchritz’s existing production environment will not only be highly resource-efficient but also essential for achieving the lowest-possible polysilicon manufacturing costs.
For over 50 years, WACKER has been producing hyperpure polycrystalline silicon for the semiconductor industry. With rising solar-silicon demand, WACKER POLYSILICON has been expanding capacity step by step and, since 2000, increasingly supplying the photovoltaics industry. Supplementing Burghausen, Nünchritz will be
WACKER’s second site to manufacture solar silicon. The German state of Saxony, in which it is located, is among the world’s leading solar-industry centers.