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WACKER SCHOTT Solar commissions new solarwafer factory

  • PRODUCTION STARTS AFTER JUST SIX MONTHS’ CONSTRUCTION
  • WACKER SCHOTT SOLAR PLANS TOTAL CAPACITY OF 120 MEGAWATTS BY END OF 2008
  • €50 MILLION INVESTMENT INITIALLY CREATES 140 NEW JOBS IN JENA, GERMANY
  • PRODUCTION BUILDING ACCOMMODATES ONE OF THURINGIA’S LARGEST PHOTOVOLTAIC ARRAYS

Jena, Apr 16, 2008

WACKER SCHOTT Solar GmbH, a joint venture of Wacker Chemie AG (Munich) and SCHOTT Solar GmbH (Alzenau), today officially commissioned a new factory in Jena for the production of silicon wafers for the solar industry. After just six months’ construction, WACKER SCHOTT Solar has commenced wafer production, and plans to ramp up the factory’s annual capacity to 50 MW by fall 2008. This will increase WACKER SCHOTT Solar’s total annual capacity to 120 MW by year’s end. The two partners have invested €50 million in the new production plant, creating initially 140 new jobs at the Jena site.

Dr. Patrick Markschläger und Axel Schmidt, the two managing directors of WACKER SCHOTT Solar, were more than pleased about the new factory’s rapid completion: “We built it in record time and are now ramping up solarwafer production as planned. The new production plant’s commissioning is an important milestone for WACKER SCHOTT Solar’s business success. It is crucial to our ability to expand production capacity in line with the strong demand of our photovoltaics customers.”
The new Jena factory relies on time-tested technology that involves sawing individual wafers from multicrystalline silicon ingots. The two-story building has 7,560 m2 of floorspace for the manufacturing equipment – and it has one of the Thuringia region’s largest photovoltaic arrays installed on its roof. SCHOTT Solar manufactured and delivered the solar modules for this 82 kW array, which is operated by PV Meins KG (a partnership that includes many WACKER SCHOTT Solar employees).

About WACKER SCHOTT Solar

WACKER SCHOTT Solar GmbH is a joint venture of Wacker Chemie AG and SCHOTT AG. The company manufactures hyperpure, polycrystalline silicon wafers, the starting basis for solar cells. Over the coming years, WACKER SCHOTT Solar plans to invest a total of €370 million at its sites in Jena (Thuringia) and Alzenau (Bavaria), creating at least 700 new jobs. Total solarwafer production capacity is set to expand in stages, reaching about one gigawatt per year by 2012. This will make the joint venture one of the world’s largest solarwafer manufacturers.
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For further information, please contact:

WACKER SCHOTT Solar GmbH
Marketing Analysis & Communications
Barbara Kirchner
Tel. +49 3641 68193211
Fax +49 3641 28889276
barbara.kirchner@wackerschott.com