Metallurgical grade silicon an alternative to Polysilicon?
I thought this was an interesting bit of news from Digitimes. The shortage and thus the high prices of polysilicon is forcing the solar cell industry to look for alternatives and metallurgical-grade silicon seems to be it. According to the article, a number of companies have started testing production of silicon wafers from metallurgical-grade silicon.
The article doesn’t go into very much detail but it would be interesting to find out the efficiency level that can be reached using metallurgical-grade silicon as opposed to polysilicon. It’s obviously not going to be as efficient but the question is exactly how much efficiency do you loose? Can it compete against thin-film solar cells?
Would love to find out answers to these questions if there is a solar expert reading this article.
August 8th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
You may want to look at a Toronto based company called Timminco. It is publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TIM.
They have a very high quality 99.999% purity metallurgical silicon manufacturing process that has a very low impurity level especially of boron which is a problematic impurity.
It appears as though their VERY low CAPEX intensity and previous +10 years of experience as a chemical grade silicon maker could allow them to become a major force in the metallurgical solar silicon industry.
I would be glad to provide more details to those who may be interested.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:52 am
Hallo David
I would be very interested indeed to learn more details about the processes TIMMINCO employs.
thanks in advance
Cyriak
September 5th, 2007 at 4:21 am
Cyriak.
You can e-mail me at dtomljenovic@sprott.com and I would be glad to forward you some information on Timminco’s metallurgical PV silicon process.
All the best,
David
October 21st, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I am trying to figure out what the distinction is with Timminco. The article that I read at EcoLog.com suggests that Timminco is producing an industrial / chemical grade silicon that is currently 5/9th the purity of the polysilicon required for the semi-conductor industry. Is Timminco’s industrial grade silicon used as is in the production of solar panels or is it upgraded from there to the higher purity 99.999…. silicon? Timminco’s factory is to cost $24 million to produce 3600 metric tonnes of industrial grade silicon rather than the $500 million for high purity 99.999…% factory that produces 5000 metric tonnes per year.
Apparently, the 99.999..% pure silicon is required for semiconductors with very little silicon used in each. However, it seems that there is a considerable amount of silicon used in the production of each solar panel.
Timminco appears to have an edge but what is it?
Two analysts from Sprott have been on BNN. Their talk is all about achieving 99.999…% purity polysilicon. That would appear to be entirely misleading. The edge seems to be producing lower grade silicon at considerably less expense sufficient for solar panels.
I know, and I emphasize know, that there are a lot of smart people in that room at Sprott. They know the edge that Timminco has. They have invested serious money. What is Timminco’s edge?
Any clarification would be most appreciated.
Regards,
Joe
February 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 am
Dear David,
I had made a presentatation during 22nd EU PV conf in Milan, sep 2007 to convey that there must be a path-nreaking approach to produce “crude silico” at one-fourth the prestent cost to make solar pv truly commercial. In this connection, I find your arguement of alternate to ‘polysilicon’ - MG silicon. We are already working on such a path and seem your further information.
Once I recieve your response, I shall continue the communication with you. Pl visit our website www.solarnest.net.
DT Barki