Hanwha Chemical is planning to spend KRW1.04 trillion (US$955 million) on a new polysilicon plant in South Korea to help double sales over the next five years. When construction is completed in July 2013, the Yeosu plant will have the capacity to produce 10,000 metric tonnes of polysilicon a year.
Wacker Chemie's long-planned construction of a 15,000MT per annum polysilicon plant in Cleveland, Tennessee, has officially broken ground. The project is said to cost around US$1.5 billion and will create some 650 new jobs when the plant become operational in late 2013. With other planned capacity expansions in Germany, Wacker reiterated that it expects to reach an annual polysilicon capacity of 67,000MT in 2014.
With the acquisition of US-based CdTe thin-film start-up PrimeStar now behind GE, the conglomerate is planning to expand its investments in PV with the building of a 400MW manufacturing plant, potentially bringing its total investment in the sector to over US$600 million.
LDK Solar is expanding its manufacturing base by opening a new cell production facility in Hefei City, China. The plant, located in the Anhui Province, will employ 2,014 and bring LDK's annual production capacity to 570MW.
Leading Chinese polysilicon manufacturer Daqo New Energy has started work on phase two of its new facility in Shihezi, Xinjiang. Manufacturing will begin in the second half of 2012, with an initial capacity of 3,000 metric tonnes.
Just fifteen miles outside of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam’s Dong Nam Industrial Park, First Solar has begun construction on its four-line PV module manufacturing plant. The ground breaking of First Solar’s US$300 million Vietnamese plant comes one week after the company announced its plans for a second U.S. manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona. Commercial production at the Vietnam site is slated to begin during the second half of 2012.
Malaysian conglomerate Scientex and Japanese materials supplier Mitsui Chemicals Tohcello (MCTI) have signed a joint-venture agreement to manufacture and distribute ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) encapsulating materials for PV modules and other applications. A new company will be formed, MCTI Scientex Solar, in which each party holds a 50% equity interest.
Hanwha Holdings (USA) has established Hanwha Solar America LLC as a U.S. subsidiary, which will set up an advanced photovoltaic technology research and development center in Silicon Valley. Industry veteran Chris Eberspacher has been named president of HSA and will also serve as global CTO of Hanwha’s various solar businesses.
In direct response to its high order volumes, centrotherm photovoltaics is investing in an expansion of its Blaubeuren, Germany headquarters. The current 247,569-square-foot facility’s area will be increased to 333,681 square feet with a double-digit million euro price tag. Production at Blaubeuren includes the manufacturing of tube furnaces for phosphorous diffusion and batch-type systems for anti-reflective coating of solar cells.
First Solar has selected the location of its second manufacturing center in the United States, and it’s a short drive from the company’s Tempe, AZ, headquarters. A 135-acre site in Mesa that once hosted a General Motors vehicle testing facility will see the creation of a cadmium-telluride thin-film PV module factory, a $300 million capital investment which will feature four production lines and be suitable for future expansion.
