Schmid Silicon Technology: Polysilicon Update

Silicon strategy covers the gamut of quartz and metallurgical silicon to polysilicon.

There has been a dearth of news regarding Schmid Silicon Technology (SST) since the Sunways AG enters polysilicon production business announcement and my Schmid Silicon Technology: From East Germany with Polysilicon post.

At PHOTON’s 6^th Solar Silicon Conference on April 1, 2008, part of the Photovoltaic Technology Show 2008 Europe, Gebr. Schmid GmbH + Co. (Deutsch) representatives, Frank Tinnefeld and Jochem Hahn, presented “From sand to module – a fully vertical integrated approach for the PV Industry.”

Schmid has observed the Euro price of silicon metal has increased almost fifty percent since 2005. As a result, Schmid has formed a joint venture in Kazakhstan, Schmid Silicon Kazakhstan, to mine quartz (SiO₂), not sand, and to build and operate a metallurgical silicon (mg-Si) production facility. In the first phase, Schmid plans (“investments will be explored”) to invest about USD $150 Million to construct a facility with 30,000 metric tons per year of mg-Si production capacity:

• 10,000 metric tons per year of mg-Si will be processed by Schmid Silicon Technology into 6,000 metric tons per year of Polysilicon
• 20,000 metric tons per year of mg-Si will be sold on the world market

Having secured land and mining rights at a location northeast of Taraz, Kazakhstan, construction of the mg-Si facility will start in July 2008, and silicon metal production is slated to start in the second half of 2009.

Schmid believes they have developed a new way to produce polysilicon using the UMOSI process:

single step catalytic disproportion of chlor silane mixture to monosilane and pyrolysis of monosilane:
4 HSiCl₃ = 3 SiCl₄ + SiH₄; SiH₄ = Si + 2 H₂
Optimized total process structure in respect to:
Hydrochlorination, Hydration, Disproportion and Pyrolysis

SST claims the UMOSI process produces polysilicon with a cumulative cost structure 28% cheaper than the Siemens process. SST has partnered with Spectrum for “Monosilan Technology and Process Know-How” forming a joint venture called (I presume) Schmid Silicon Ukraine (SSU). And yet another joint venture, Schmid Silicon Engineering (SSE) has been formed with an unnamed EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) firm for engineering and chemical plant construction.

SST plans to construct pilot production, TCS (Trichlorosilane, HSiCl₃), and 6,000 metric ton (6 x 1000 metric tons) production facilities at the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park (Industriepark) located between Spremberg and Spreewitz, Germany. Per the SST schedule, the first 2,000 metric ton production facility will begin construction in the third quarter of 2008 and be commissioned in the fourth quarter of 2009.

SST is still looking for additional investors in the 6,000 metric ton polysilicon fab (Silicon Fab “Schwarze Pumpe”) project in 1,000 metric ton modular clusters. SST touts silicon independence, scalability, cost savings at 6,000 metric ton scale, a 3 to 5 year return on investment (ROI), and “highly innovative technology and equipment with high potential for future development” as key investment drivers.

To date, Sunways AG (FRA:SWW) has been the only investor named in the SST project. In the Sunways investor Presentation Feb. 2008 on slide 19, Sunways notes Schmid is responsible for the “construction, installation and utilities operation of a turnkey plant for the production of 1,000 tons solar silicon as of 2010”. This arrangement appears to be a corollary to the Foundry/Fabless joint venture business models that evolved in the semiconductor industry. Will Schmid Silicon Technology operate these turnkey polysilicon plants for their customers or expect them to take the keys and drive as with Schmid’s turnkey production equipment solutions for solar wafers, cells, and modules? I believe many solar companies will find a “Fabless” polysilicon business model with guaranteed capacity at industry competitive costs attractive.

And in 1366 Technologies Wins Solar Startup Competition, Ucilia Wang at Greentech Media reports that GreenVolts CEO Bob Cart "announced it is bidding for a 26-megawatt project that would ramp up to a capacity of 1,000 megawatts per year by 2015." I wonder if this was the mysterious project mentioned in my post, GreenVolts at BIG Solar?

Poly Plant Project delivers Turnkey Polysilicon Plants

Technology focused on the Siemens process

Founded in 2005, the Poly Plant Project, Inc. (PPP) helps aspiring polysilicon oligarchs and companies moving up the value chain to research, design, and construct polysilicon production facilities based on trichlorosilane (TCS) chemistry or the “Siemens process”.

Lead by Chairman & CEO Tetsunori (Terry) T. Kunimune, owner of the Kunical International Group, Ltd., Poly Plant Project’s team includes polysilicon industry veterans with extensive “experience in the engineering, design, construction, expansion, and operation of polysilicon production plants.” PPP’s business model targets solar photovoltaic (PV) industry companies interested in building polysilicon production plants for vertical integration and to supply partners and even competitors with solar grade polysilicon (SoG-Si) for the production of solar cells.

Viewing the PPP company presentation, PPP - Your Partner for Proven TCS-Based Polysilicon Plant Planning & Design, reveals a majority of consulting inquiries originating from China, a number in Russia, and even one in North Africa (Tunisia or Libya?). Getting started with PPP on a polysilicon plant is just a 2-way Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) away.

With the demand for polysilicon showing no signs of abating, it is no surprise polysilicon engineering and consulting firms have booming businesses. Another firm, CH2M HILL Lockwood Greene, received a contract from solar and polysilicon newbie, Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ:HOKU), to provide engineering and related services for subsidiary Hoku Materials' first polysilicon production facility.

I received a tip about this company, so suggest a bit a due diligence is in order before investing half a billion US Dollars in your first polysilicon production plant. Since PPP is located in Burbank, California, near Hollywood, they must receive the occasional crank caller interested in silicone instead of silicon.

Also, I suggest their Indian website designers, TRIGUNS, consider there is Copyleft for open source and Copyright, but no Copywright for original works of authorship!

From Russia with Polysilicon

Russian program "Silicon" (Silicon Program) projects slated to produce semiconductor and solar grade silicon

When I was searching around YouTube for my own videos earlier this month, I noticed this video with the tag polysilicon:

I have managed to connect this video to the SiPro Silicon Program in Russia (English, Russian). The video appears to show the SSP Project or Semi-conductor silicon plant located about 10 kilometers from Zheleznogorsk in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia.

This program may not be news to everyone. Two SiFoRUms have been held the past two years in Moscow to promote the Investment and Industrial Potential of Russian Polysilicon Production for Solar Energy.

Spearheaded and run by the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency, the Silicon Program’s stated goal is to create a high tech manufacturing industry leveraging skilled workers displaced from nuclear weapons and spacecraft development, cheap electric power, and local resources and infrastructure.

On January 1, 2006, the SSP Project was financed with $120 Million (USD) to build out 1000 metric tons per year of solar grade polycrystalline silicon production capacity. A significant portion of this investment creates infrastructure for capacity expansion to 4000 metric tons of polycrystalline silicon per year as part of the Solarius Project. This project ensures NITOL Group investments in the expansion of trichlorosilane production by the joint stock company Usoliechimprom to support the Silicon Program.

The Silicon Program has a US based consulting arm called Solarius Technologies, LLC providing consulting services for the design and construction of semi-conductor quality and solar grade polysilicon production facilities based on their modernized trichlorsilane technology.

I contacted the Silicon Program and Solarius Technologies to obtain an update on the status of the SSP and Solarius Projects, but I didn’t want to wait for a reply before posting this.

And speaking of silicon, most of my future posts will be from what I call the Silicon Valley Bureau of GUNTHER Portfolio although the headquarters remains in New Jersey.