Wacker Chemie Searches for a New Polysilicon Site

NATASHA ALPEROWICZ --

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Wacker Chemie is studying locations for a new polysilicon manufacturing facility, dubbed Poly 9, CW has learned. The facility would help meet a surge in demand from the photovoltaic industry. Wacker could not locate a new world-scale facility at Burghausen, Germany, where all of its existing polysilicon production is based. "There would not be enough space at Burghausen for a new plant, which would be designed for about 10,000 m.t./year with provisions to double to 20,000 m.t./year or even expand to 30,000 m.t./year," Karl Hesse, director/process design at Wacker Polysilicon tells CW. The company is considering sites worldwide, Hesse says. Wacker's polysilicon complex at Burghausen is fully integrated. It converts silanes available at the site to trichlorosilane, which is used to make polysilicon. Wacker may consider Nunchritz, Germany, where the company operates a major silicones complex, for the polysilicon investment but Hesse says there is not enough silanes capacity there to supply a world-scale polysilicon plant. "We would have to add capacity," he says.

Wacker could obtain some incentives from the local government if it chose Nunchritz, sources say.

Wacker is the second-largest producer of polysilicon behind Hemlock (Hemlock, MI). Wacker has 10,000 m.t./year of polysilicon capacity at Burghausen centered on two plants: Poly 4, a 6,500-m.t./year unit, and Poly 6, a recently completed 3,500-m.t./year plant. It also is building: a 650-m.t./year granular polysilicon plant at Burghausen that is due onstream at year-end with ramp-up completion due in the second quarter of next year; Poly 7, a 4,500-m.t./year unit due online at year-end with full production expected by the end of 2009; and Poly 8, a 7,000-m.t./year unit expected online at the end of 2009 with full capacity utilization by the end of 2010. All of the projects will increase Wacker's total polysilicon capacity to 22,200 m.t./year.

Wacker supplies polysilicon to the semiconductor and solar industries. The company's polysilicon sales increased 40% in 2007, to (euro) 457 million ($ 754 million) and are expected to rise a further 40% this year. Wacker has already committed about 80% of its existing and planned polysilicon output with some supply contracts running through 2015.

Separately, Wacker Schott Solar, a joint venture between Wacker and Schott (Alzenau, Germany) has completed a new factory at Jena, Germany to produce silicon wafers for the solar industry. The jv makes hyperpure, polycrystalline wafers, using polysilicon from Wacker.

Meanwhile, Hemlock announced plans last year to invest up to $ 1 billion to expand polysilicon capacity by 90%, to 36,000 m.t./year, at its Hemlock, MI site to supply the solar and electronics industries. Completion is due in 2010.

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