Chinese, German Firms Collaborate to Produce Highly Purified Polysilicon

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Lu'an Mining Industry Group Company Limited (Changzhi City, Shanxi Province) and Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG (Balubeuren, Germany) have signed an agreement to build a factory to produce highly purified silicon. The firms will establish production lines to produce 60-megawatt solar cells and more than 2,500 tons per year of polysilicon.

This project is expected to start soon and be finished within the year with a production line of equal amount planned in a later expansion. A report states that the total investment in the project is $685 million but doesn't disclose the project's location. More than half of the investment is planned for Phase I.

The state-backed project will produce highly purified polysilicon, up to 99.9%, Lu'an stated.

Lu'an Group is a chemical and energy enterprise specializing in coal and several associated industries, such as coal-power-chemical, coal-coke-chemical and coal-oil-chemical. Among China's top 500 enterprises, Lu'an ranks 155.

Centrotherm is a leading international provider of technology and services for the production of solar cells and solar silicon. It supplies turnkey production lines and key equipment to manufacture solar cells, as well as engineering and process-technology services. In the solar silicon segment, it offers services and key equipment.

Recently, a Sichuan company has also started polysilicon project in Chengdu, Sichuan's capital city. The company plans to invest $370 million in the project, producing 3,000 tons of polysilicon beginning in 2010.

China's policies toward clean energy have attracted billions of dollars in investments in polysilicon and related solar industry.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading marketing information services company for the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy-related markets throughout the world. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, IIR provides accurate and timely intelligence featuring plant and project information databases, focused market databases, industry forecasting, key industry contacts, industry and territorial map products, direct marketing services and applications, and daily industry news.