Zaporizhia to launch 10,000-ton solar energy silicon facility

The Zaporizhia-based Semiconductor Factory is planning to produce, after reconstruction, over 10,000 tons of polycrystalline silicon for solar energy purposes. According to the Zaporizhia Oblast Administration’s website, the first stage of the facility is to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2010. The report quotes Volodymyr Kaltsev, first deputy chairman of the administration, as saying that the factory’s output is important for the region. “The region may be visited by German investors who wish to build a solar power station in Prymorsky district. Taking into account that the semiconductor factory produces polycrystalline silicon, which is used in solar batteries, we are negotiating the use of Zaporizhia-made materials at solar power stations,” the official noted. Earlier, First Vice-Premier Andrii Kliuiev, a co-owner of the factory, said they planned to begin production in June 2010.