Wacker Chemie AG (WCH.DE) announced it will build a new and fully integrated polysilicon production site in Tennessee.
With an annual capacity of 15,000 metric tons, the production complex will be built on a property acquired by Wacker early last year. The new site’s completion is expected at the end of 2013 at an estimated cost of EUR 1.1 billion.
The facility is expected to created around 650 new clean energy jobs in the Cleveland, Tennessee area.
Wacker will build facilities that are based on closed-loop material recycling for the entire polysilicon-production supply chain. This spans from the production of trichlorosilane feedstock and deposition of hyperpure silicon through to facilities to recycle resultant by-products and auxiliary materials.
“We are convinced that our customers’ demand for top-quality polysilicon will continue to increase in coming years, as our material enables them to manufacture solar cells with high energy yields," said Rudolf Staudigl, CEO of Wacker Chemie AG. Moreover, these additional production capacities outside the eurozone help to make us more independent of exchange-rate fluctuations.”
Wacker said it receives outstanding support in Tennessee from local authorities and business partners. The incentive package associated with site construction includes provision of the necessary transportation links, as well as reliable water and electricity supplies – both vital for producing hyperpure polycrystalline silicon. In addition, Tennessee’s electricity prices are much lower than at comparable German sites.
With a production output of some 30,000 metric tons in 2010, Wacker is the world’s second-largest producer of polycrystalline silicon.
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