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Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Maharishi Solar Technology (MST) silicon plans emerge

MST to begin with 100 Metric Ton (MT) R&D Plant

Per Mr. Dev Raj with Maharishi Solar Technology (P) Ltd. (http://www.maharishisolar.com), MST decided to setup a Solar Grade Silicon manufacturing facility in India to address strong unmet local end demand for solar photovoltaic products. As a result of silicon shortages, Indian solar cell and module manufacturers are running at below capacity.

MST has obtained new technology for manufacturing Solar Grade Silicon which has yet to be commercialized. To start, MST will establish a research and development plant costing USD $15 million with 100 MT capacity. After the process is proven, MST plans to upgrade the plant to 1000 MT annual capacity with an additional investment of USD $45-50 million. The estimated Solar Grade Silicon production cost from this new process is about USD $50 per kilogram.

I wonder if this is the production cost or the expected equivalent silicon market price?

MST was first covered at the end of this post, Unknowns NA Polysilicon, AE Polysilicon, and MST joining PV silicon party. Maharishi Solar claims to be the only company in India producing multicrystalline wafers.

In the United States, while many folks have a holiday today, there is no second Christmas day holiday tradition. And this year, Boxing Day is misinterpreted as an excuse to see the new Rocky Balboa movie (see Rocky Balboa Review: Punch Drunk Love or the Official Movie Blog, ROCKY BALBOA BLOG).