Dow Corning lights up solar sector with multibillion dollar investment

Dow Corning has revealed $3bn investment plans for the solar energy industry

Businesses may well be finding it increasingly difficult to finance capital intensive building projects, but apparently nobody told chemicals giant Dow Corning, which yesterday announced multi-billion dollar investments designed to boost its ability to provide components for the solar industry.

The US company said its polysilicon manufacturer joint venture Hemlock Semiconductor is to invest $3bn in expanding its Michigan production facility and building a new site in Tennessee.

The combined increased capacity will allow the joint venture - which was launched in partnership with Japanese firms Shin-Etsu Handotai and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation – to increase production by up to 34,000 metric tons of polysilicon a year.

Polysilicon is used in the production of computer chips and silicon-based solar panels, but Hemlock chief executive Rick Doornbos said it was the expected growth in demand for solar cells that had driven the investment.

"This announcement offers solar industry leaders confidence that polysilicon supply will be available as the solar and electronics industries continue to grow and innovate," he said. "The exact scale of this investment will be determined by market conditions. Making this investment in today's volatile economic climate is a testament to both the long-term outlook of the solar industry, as well as Hemlock Semiconductor's ability to add capacity to meet the needs of customers."

Recent reports have claimed that a glut of polysilicon will result in falling prices for crystalline-based solar panels next year, but industry analysts are convinced that soaring demand for solar cells over the next decade will ensure that demand for the material remains solid.

Meanwhile, in a sign that it could be hedging its bets on which solar cell technology comes to dominate the sector Dow Corning announced that it is also to invest an undisclosed sum in a manufacturing facility adjacent to Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation's Michigan site that will produce high purity monosilane, a gas used in the manufacture of thin film solar cells and liquid crystal displays.

Eric Peeters, global executive director at Dow Corning Solar Solutions, said that the investment was designed to reinforce the company's position as "a value-added material supplier to the solar industry".