DC Chemical Raises Polysilicon Capacity (to 26,500 tonnes per year, Korea)

[jpak]

http://www.solarbuzz.com/News/NewsASMA172.htm

DC Chemical's board of directors has approved plans to expand the company's polysilicon manufacturing facilities. Specifically, the company plans to invest 880 billion won to build a No.3 polysilicon plant with 10,000 metric tons of annual capacity at its Gunsan plant site. Construction will commence in July of this year, and the project will be completed by December 2009.

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For the aforementioned expansions, DC Chemical will invest a total of 260 billion won in its No.1 and No.2 polysilicon plants by June 2009. With these additional investments, DC Chemical's aggregate investment in the polysilicon business will total 2.25 trillion won during the period of July 2006 through December 2009. This is comprised of an initial investment of 1.11 trillion won and the newly announced investment of 1.14 trillion won. Upon the completion of the aforementioned expansion projects, the annual polysilicon production capacity of the company will total 26,500 metric tons.

According to a company official, "DC Chemical is planning to focus on the polysilicon business, which is a key raw material segment in the solar photovoltaic industry, and the industry itself is expected to grow by more than 30% per year. Moreover, through this capacity expansion, DC Chemical will become the world's second largest polysilicon manufacturer in 2010 with the nameplate capacity of 26,500 metric tons."

The completion of this large-scale expansion is expected to help solve the current shortage in the supply of polysilicon, and looking ahead, it will spark greater demand for solar products, which will also be aided by a drop in polysilicon prices. Accordingly, all of these factors are expected to accelerate the achievement of grid parity (the point at which the cost of solar generated electricity reaches the same level as the cost of conventionally generated electricity), and ultimately, DC Chemical will significantly contribute to the overall growth of the solar PV industry.

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[Zachstar]

1. Does this affect Thin Film?

Traditional Solar Cells are going to perish in the market compared to low cost thin film.