AE Polysilicon responded with a few more photos. Both Secretary McGinty and 8th District Congressman Patrick J. Murphy (D-PA) spoke to celebrate the AE Polysilicon groundbreaking.
Photo Credit: AE Polysilicon Congressman Patrick J. Murphy (D-PA)
Companies like Spanish windmill manufacturer Gamesa and solar material manufacturer AE Polysilicon have already moved into the KIPC and created hundreds of jobs.
By virtue of an office at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC) Administrative building and activity at the existing structure, this statement was true in technical fact. However, I still believe Congressman Murphy’s staff was being a bit over enthusiastic about AE Polysilicon’s progress last October.
AE Polysilicon founder and President Dr. York Tsuo said:
Global demand for clean energy and solar power in particular is booming; however, limited supplies of polysilicon have restrained the industry’s ability to mass produce affordable solar cells and modules. It is the company’s vision to advance the competitiveness of the solar energy industry by developing cost-effective technologies and creating strong relationships in the industry and local community. We are very excited to locate in Pennsylvania, with its strong commitment to developing a clean energy economy and its skilled workforce.
Photo Credit: AE Polysilicon I believe Motech Industries, Inc. Chairman and President Dr. Simon Tsuo is at the far right.
According to AE, major equipments have been ordered and installation had already begun for some equipments at a site near the facility. AE expects to enter into test production soon after the production facility has been completed. According to the construction plan, AE expects to commence test production in the fourth quarter of 2008.
Event slated for today, February 15, 2008, at 11:00 AM EST
I stopped by the Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC) this morning to check on the construction progress, if any, for the new AE Polysilicon facility. I was surprised to find signs for an AE Polysilicon Event. The groundbreaking ceremony is supposed to start at 11:00 AM per one of the event caters I questioned.
Here is a Picasa slideshow with the event tent and the existing building that will be renovated into office space.
It appears there has been little to no work done thus far at the site. I tried to find an AE Polysilicon representative to ask for a formal invitation to the groundbreaking, but I could not find anyone at the main KIPC office. So I decided to rush out this post.
Well, I do have to wonder why I did not receive an official invitation!
This is the first Solar Light Flashes of 2008. Somehow, I didn’t have anything to report on a company name starting with the letter “S”, the most popular first letter for “s”olar companies.
Part 1 of 1 - 6:32pm to 6:57pm (timestamp range 6:54:54 to 6:56:45)
and allow the video to load before advancing the time index unless you find the political squabbling between Supervisor Vislosky and Board Chairman Robert Harvie, Jr. (or see Harvie) amusing.
The postSunPower and First Solar: Two Men Enter. One Man Leaves. by Daniel Englander seems long on provocation and short on arguments. First, I don’t see near term competition between SunPower and First Solar as a zero sum game. Each company’s technology can thrive in photovoltaic applications depending on the specifics of the installation size, area, and location. And any thin film threat as cited from Nanosolar or Sharp to First Solar is an even greater threat to SunPower because of their higher cost per Watt silicon solar cells. SunPower is not “a vertically integrated poly producer” as Mr. Englander states and needs polysilicon prices to decline just to keep up with First Solar and maintain their gross margins. Exploiting their own increasing returns to scale, First Solar can continue to lower their variable manufacturing costs and defend their industry leading cost position.
In this YouTube video, Dr. Lawrence Kazmerski, Director of the National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV) at NREL, delivers an entertaining and informative lecture onPhotovoltaics: At the Tipping Point at Vanderbilt University on December 3, 2007.
Cheers to PHOTON International, The Photovoltaic Magazine, for posting articles to their website on a regular basis in 2008. With a massive database of articles, I always thought this would be a great way to leverage their content and entice new subscribers via the teaser content page for the latest issue.
PV-Tech independently collects and disseminates news and in-depth technical information exclusively for PV manufacturers.
Since this publication showed potential, I added it to my SOLAR LINKS. But what is with the .org designation? Non-profit organizations are the main users of the .org (dot-org) domain, and PV-Tech.org is a for profit company operated by the Henley Media Group. Over a period of one month, PV-Tech.org failed to respond to my emails asking about the .org domain though they did find the time to trumpet themselves in PV-Tech.org - building a sustainable future one cell at a time.
Ground breaking expected in mid-January 2008 at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC) Production delay of one quarter based on construction cycle of eight (8) to nine (9) months.
Item #2: A.E. POLYSILICON - FINAL LAND DEVELOPMENT - TPN 13-51-1 - ONE BEN FAIRLESS DRIVE (EXP. 12/31)
In his presentation to the Board, AE Polysilicon Attorney Mr. Ed Murphy, McBride and Murphy, said:
We’d like to break ground to start this facility sometime within the next 30 days or so because they’d like to have the facility up and operating and producing product before the end of 2008.
As soon as we receive the air permit from DEP and any other local permits, we’d like to start earth moving activities as quickly as possible because the business plan anticipates an eight to nine month construction cycle and they’d like to have the facility up and operating and making product before the end of 2008.
Overriding what was said at the October 16, 2007, meeting, Mr. Murphy indicated both Cell #1 and Cell #2 will be built in construction Phase 1 while reiterating initial production of 1500 metric tons of polysilicon.
Jonathan Snipes, Chairman of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors, said I am hoping other solar panel manufacturers are listening and will consider locating their wafer and cell manufacturing right next to AE Polysilicon at the KIPC to leverage the polysilicon production.
After the AE Polysilicon presentation, supervisor questions, and no public comments, the Falls Township Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to approve resolution #07-40 granting the AE POLYSILICON - FINAL LAND DEVELOPMENT plan with Supervisor Vislosky abstaining.
A process description for lay persons was presented at the October 16, 2007, meeting of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors. The impure silicon powder (98% pure) or metallurgical silicon (mg-Si) will be converted via a process described in a handout distributed to the Supervisors into a 99.9999% pure pelletized product (granular polysilicon). Will the polysilicon only be six nines pure (6N)? Later in the meeting, there were tacit claims the polysilicon is appropriate for electronic grade semiconductor applications. Is this an apparent contradiction or an indication the polysilicon will be of higher purity than stated?
When asked about the source of the powered metallurgical silicon, AE Polysilicon representative Chris Chang said,
I believe it is a kind of trade secret but we are going to purchase such type of metallurgical grade silicon from here. In the US.
My interpretation of the here in Mr. Chang’s statement was at the KIPC or from a local source in Pennsylvania. I don’t think there is an arc furnace at the KIPC. I didn’t see a plant that resembled a silicon metal production facility, so my strong suspicion is the metallurgical silicon powder is sourced outside the KIPC in Pennsylvania.
Trichlorosilane (TCS, HSiCl3)
Per the AE Polysilicon website:
AE Polysilicon was established in 2006 to develop and commercialize polysilicon production using fluidized bed reactors and trichlorosilane as feedstock gas.
AE Polysilicon also touts their FBR technology is an Environmentally friendly closed loop process.
Looking at the preliminary plan, the area between each pair of cells could be for a TCS production cell or TCS gas storage. I consulted with a few experts on Polysilicon plants, but their review of the sketchy preliminary plan was inconclusive. The drawing had insufficient detail. Since then, I have learned AE Polysilicon will produce TCS onsite from a well informed, confidential source. This is logical considering the above claims of a closed loop process and the planned size of the facility.
The Fluidized Bed Reactor in the above diagram utilizes silane (SiH4) as the fluid gas instead of trichlorosilane. Was this illustrative diagram in error or a red herring? While the AE Polysilicon process may begin with TCS, could their patented, closed loop, TCS process include conversion to silane at a later process stage? Maybe this is not such a surprise since the AE Polysilicon team is purported to include ex-employees of Foster Wheeler and ASiMI. ASiMI is now REC Solar Grade Silicon LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSL:REC).
I’ve noticed the AE Polysilicon website, http://www.aepolysilicon-nj.com, has been down since about Sunday. Perhaps they have acquired the http://www.aepolysilicon.com domain name? Until construction does begin, I know they need to correct the statement:
AE Polysilicon has purchased and begun construction of the production facility at Keystone Industrial Port Complex (KIPC) in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania.
The above Preliminary Land Development Plan was presented at the October 16, 2007, meeting of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors. My annotations reflect the details disclosed by the Showalter & Associates engineer. Further information was provided by AE Polysilicon representative Chris Chang while addressing questions from the Supervisors and interested citizens.
Cell #1 will be constructed in Phase 1, and Mr. Chang said:
We plan to start commissioning in June 2008 and start the production in August … 2008.
We plan for the First phase for 1500 metric tons of Polysilicon, and then gradually we are going to move to Phase 2 and our ultimate goal will be 12000 tons.
Mr. Chang stated the capital investment for the facility has grown to more than $100 Million from the previous $70 Million.
Given that the plan calls for four identical cells to achieve the full plant build out goal of 12000 metric tons of annual production capacity, quick math indicates Cell #1 will either be operated at a lower initial throughput pending advancement along the learning curve or only half its capacity will be built in Phase 1.
After the AE Polysilicon presentation, supervisor questions, and public comment, the Falls Township Board of Supervisors voted to approve resolution #07-32, the AE POLYSILICON - PRELIMINARY LAND DEVELOPMENT plan. Although AE Polysilicon’s attorney mentioned they would seek the final land development plan approval in November 2007, the online supervisor agenda does not appear to include this topic delaying the process another two (2) weeks to one month.
The AE Polysilicon Announcement - Full Press Conference Video with Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell from April 14, 2007, can be viewed here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5.
Jonathan Snipes, Chairman of the Falls Township Board of Supervisors, and Gerard J. McHugh, Corporate Services Director NAI Global, did not respond to my emails or voice messages with questions regarding AE Polysilicon.
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.
AE Polysilicon is purchasing about 20 acres of land with an existing 39,000 square foot building in the Keystone Opportunity Improvement Zone (KOIZ).AE Polysilicon plans to renovate the structure into a corporate headquarters and begin constructing an open air manufacturing facility on five acres of land this July and create at least 143 jobs in 2008.
"We are honored to be part of Governor Rendell's vision," said Dr. York Tsuo, president of AE Polysilicon. "The amount of support we have received from the state and local governments and industry has made Pennsylvania the ideal state to locate our production facilities."
So this news will be a shock to the AE Polysilicon skeptics.There are a few immediate questions about this development.How and/or from whom will AE Polysilicon source the silane or trichlorosilane required by their Fluidized Bed Reactor technology?Does this mean AE Polysilicon is on track for initial Phase 1 capacity of 1,500 metric tons per year by the end of 2008?How did New Jersey lose this deal?Is this related to the mismanagement of funds over at the New Jersey Clean Energy Program?
