Having announced in February 2009 that it planned to build a polysilicon plant near the city of Cleveland, Tennessee, Wacker Chemie says the 15,000MT facility will be completed by the end of 2013. The cost of the facility was said to be €1.1 billion. Wacker said that approximately 650 new jobs would be created at the new plant.
“This large-scale investment is instrumental in strengthening our position as one of the world’s leading suppliers of hyperpure polysilicon for the solar industry;” said Rudolf Staudigl, CEO of Wacker Chemie. “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. Moreover, these additional production capacities outside the eurozone help to make us more independent of exchange-rate fluctuations.”
Wacker expects polysilicon demand from the PV industry to continue to experience double-digit annual demand growth.
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