After just six months’ construction, WACKER SCHOTT Solar has commenced silicon-wafer production for the solar industry at its new site in Jena, Germany. This Wacker Chemie AG and SCHOTT Solar GmbH joint venture is set to reach a nominal annual capacity of 50 megawatts (MW) by fall 2008 and 120 MW by yearend.

Dr. Patrick Markschläger and Axel Schmidt, WACKER SCHOTT Solar’s two managing directors, are very pleased about the new factory’s rapid completion: “We built it in record time and are now ramping up solar-wafer production as planned. The new production plant’s commissioning was an important milestone for WACKER SCHOTT Solar’s business success. It is crucial to our ability to expand capacity in line with the strong demand of our photovoltaics customers.”

The company has invested €50 million in the new production plant in Jena, creating an initial 140 new jobs there. The two-story building has 7,560 square meters of floorspace for 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 kilowatt array, which will be operated by PV Meins KG (a partnership that includes many WACKER SCHOTT Solar employees). 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 solar-wafer 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 solar-wafer manufacturers.