Schott, Wacker start work on wafer plant

Mainz, Germany-based Schott and Munich's Wacker Chemie announced the start of construction on a new silicon solar wafer manufacturing facility in Jena as part of their joint venture.

The Wacker Schott Solar venture, formed in August, is aiming to produce 1 gigawatt of silicon wafers by 2012 (see Schott, Wacker in solar wafer venture).

At the time, the companies said they planned to invest $506.7 million in facilities in Jena and Alzenau.

Production at the $72.1 million Jena site is expected to reach 100 megawatts per year by the end of 2008.

"Given the current global scarcity of solar silicon, securing a reliable supply of this raw material is essential to Schott Solar in order to achieve its ambitious growth targets in the photovoltaic sector," said Udo Ungeheuer, president and CEO of Schott.

Schott said wafer fabrication in the Jena plant would use conventional technology, with individual wafers sawed from multicrystalline silicon ingots.

The manufacturing equipment will be housed in a two story building with over 80,729 square feet of floorspace.

Wacker will supply the venture with the polycrystalline silicon needed to produce the wafers, with the majority of Wacker Schott Solar's wafers being used by Schott to make solar cells.

The venture also includes the existing Schott solar wafer facilities in Alzenau, as well as plants that produce multicrystalline silicon ingots in Jena.

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