In Search of AE Polysilicon

[Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania USA]

My impromptu visit to the Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC)

I’ve noticed the ongoing international interest of Blog readers in my AE Polysilicon posts. Since my last post, AE Polysilicon moves to Pennsylvania, I was at an impasse trying to contact the company through Motech Solar to obtain an update on their progress.

On a trip back east to New Jersey in late October 2007, I visited the KIPC direct from the Philadelphia International Airport.

All I expected was to snap a few photos of an FBR (Fluidized Bed Reactor) polysilicon plant under construction and a cliché sign indicating this was the future home of AE Polysilicon (http://www.aepolysilicon-nj.com/). AE Polysilicon plant construction photos would be a coup for the Blog even if I couldn’t interview anyone from the company.

After gaining access via the main KIPC gate, I was greeted at the first crossroads by 50 some odd arrow signs stacked in totem pole fashion for the companies located in the complex. Parsing through the names, I was surprised AE Polysilicon was not among them. Continuing to believe it would be easy to find the AE Polysilicon site, I decided to drive about the KIPC and look for them.

I was unprepared for the sprawling 2,400 acre (971 hectares) area of the KIPC. Failing to find AE Polysilicon in the southern portion of the complex, I stopped to review the public facts regarding their chosen location. AE Polysilicon was reported to be purchasing about 20 acres of land with an existing building. Looking at the KIPC Current Tenant Map, I narrowed my search to available lots of this approximate size.

Upon review of these candidate locations and driving down almost every road in the KIPC, I failed to find AE Polysilicon. Although I was nagged by the possibility I had missed something, I began to suspect the construction of the AE Polysilicon plant had not yet begun. The missing signage was a huge tell. Construction workers, contractors, and drivers delivering materials would need signs to find the work site.

For more on this AE Polysilicon series, please see:
Silicon Setback by Jennifer Kho at Greentech Media
AE Polysilicon: Preliminary Plan Approved