San Jose, California, based solar silicon producer Silicor Materials has contracted out the construction of its silicon-manufacturing facility to engineering company MT Højgaard. The commercial-scale production unit of Silicor is to come up at Grundartangi in Iceland.
The 121,000 square-meter unit is expected to have the capacity to supply 16,000 metric tons of solar silicon each year to global solar cell and module manufacturers.
Under the $226.5-million agreement, MT Højgaard is to design, plan and provide consultancy for the development.
According to a statement, Silicor produces low-cost, environment-friendly solar silicon as an economical alternative to traditional polysilicon. “It reduces production costs with no impact to product performance or quality,” the company has stated.
Silicor Material produces solar silicon “through a proprietary metals-based process that consumes significantly less energy than traditional methods”. Material from Silicor powers more than 20 million photovoltaic cells globally, the statement adds.
Construction at Grundartangi is scheduled to begin in early 2016. Silicor recently signed a multi-million dollar equipment contract with SMS Siemag.
In April, it had finalized land lease and port agreements with local Icelandic authorities.
The agreements have been signed with Faxafloahafnir, Associated Icelandic Ports (AIP), which will support logistics and shipping services to Silicor’s plant.
The location of the plant is ideal for solar silicon production owing to its proximity to large amounts of aluminum and metallurgical-grade silicon and it being a natural market for Silicor’s premium aluminum products — master alloy and polyaluminum chloride — both of which are feedstocks for automotive and wastewater treatment industries.
The land lease and harbor contracts make Silicor approved and ready to export its products to the global solar and aluminum industries.
Ajith Kumar S
editor@greentechlead.com