PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Merger of Crystalox and PV Silicon creates new big player in the silicon wafer market

The first signs of change came when the famous German architect Thomas Herzog designed a PV facade for PV Silicon's factory. In June, only one month after the façade's inauguration, PV Silicon, which is based in Erfurt, Germany, joined forces with the Oxfordshire, UK-based Crystalox to create PV Crystalox Solar AG, a holding for the two companies.

	© PHOTON International / Olaf-Wull Nickel
This new 30 kW facade adorns PV Silicon’s wafer factory in Erfurt, Germany.

The new company will primarily focus on the sale and distribution of silicon wafers, and to a lesser extent of the subsidiaries’ other products, while PV Silicon and Crystalox will handle all manufacturing business activities.

Crystalox and PV Silicon have cooperated since 1999. Over the last two years, Crystalox, originally a manufacturer of crystal furnaces for polycrystalline silicon ingots, has moved into ingot manufacturing, and, for the most part, has utilized the furnaces it produces for its own production purposes. The 25 × 68 × 68 cm large polycrystalline ingots are cut into cell-sized large blocks with a band saw developed by Crystalox. They are then shipped to PV Silicon, which slices them into wafers and sells them to cell manufacturers. PV Silicon also produces solar grade silicon out of waste material from the semiconductor industry, and cuts wafers from monocrystalline ingots it purchases from Ukrainian companies.

The current combined ingot and wafer production between the two firms amounts to about 30 MW. But Crystalox, which saw its capacity grow to 16 MW in 2000, is looking to boost its capacity to 40 MW by the end of 2001. »Our goal will most likely be exceeded,« says Roger Dyer, sales manager of Crystalox. According to Hubert Aulich, CEO of PV Silicon, a mid-term business plan calls for an increase to 100 MW by 2004. As of yet, no IPO is planned for the new company.