A company claiming to have developed a more efficient polycrystalline silicon manufacturing system has signed a memorandum of understanding with city officials for building its first production plant in Toledo, Ohio.

Arcadia, California-based Sphere Renewable Energy Corp. (SREC) said it will build a wholly-owned subsidiary, Buckeye Silicon (BeSi) in the city for what it said would be North America’s most advanced polycrystalline silicon production facility.

SREC said its production process involves a light industrial modular process which requires less and space and energy compared with that of common production facilities.

“The approach up until now has involved massive chemical infrastructure facilitation, similar to an oil refinery, with many of the related concerns that refineries experience,” the company said in a statement.

Polycrystalline silicon is the raw material for producing majority of PV solar cells currently being manufactured. But solar cell makers in Toledo reportedly do not use crystalline silicon in their production process.

“With the addition of BeSi’s manufacturing base, the Toledo area will be capable of boosting its photovoltaic manufacturing portfolio, spanning the entire PV value chain,” the company said.

The initial production site will be within the University of Toledo’s Center for Renewable Energy.

Production output at the BeSi plant is aimed for the PV producers in North America and Europe, the company said. Its parent company SREC, meanwhile, has recently entered into a joint venture with East Asian investors to begin using SREC’s proprietary process to mass produce crystalline-silicon for the PV market.

“Our plan is to grow to become a dominate, global polysilicon supplier as well as to further improve the NW Ohio platform so other solar-focused companies will base their businesses here,” BeSi President and CEO Harrison Choi said.


-  Eric Dorente

---

Source:

¹ http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/email/headlines...