The Sandbox

Ontario, Canada is jumping on the green bandwagon. The province is seeking to create new jobs in green industries by investing nearly $8 million in solar-grade silicon maker 6N Silicon in order to create sustainable solar energy industry jobs for skilled workers.

The investment comes as part of 6N’s $50 million expansion that includes a new manufacturing plant in Vaughan, Ontario, which will create 84 new jobs.

6N hope this investment will help build its reputation in the emerging “green economy,” and continue to draw international interest for its manufacturing process that turns low-grade silicon into the form needed to produce solar cells. 6N claims its method is cheaper, quicker and more energy-efficient than others, and is helping meet the growing demand for renewable power.

The Ontario government investment comes from the Next Generation of Jobs Fund which supports Ontario-based companies looking to invest in clean cars, fuels, technologies and products and is part of a broader plan to retool workers and stimulate Ontario’s change economy. In 6N’s case, many employees are former auto workers who have successfully transferred their skills from one sector to another.

In terms of background on 6N’s technology, the company reminded that the silicon shortage has generated considerable interest in achieving true solar grade silicon but conventional silicon purification techniques have not yielded an economically viable solution.

Further, the company said, only a few years ago, a viable market for solar grade silicon did not exist since the solar industry demand was fully satisfied with semiconductor industry scrap silicon, but with the massive new demand comes new insight from other industries, which is 6N’s focus.

6N purports that its primary advantage is the ability to make a true solar grade silicon product and notes that achieving purity levels alone does not make for a viable product. The company has leveraged knowledge from much larger metal processing industries, to lower capital equipment costs, achieve very low production costs, realize rapid expansion capability, and allow flexibility in factory location.

This sounds a little familiar as Dow Corning has a solar-focused silicon feedstock material, PV 1101 SoG Silicon, is believed to be the first commercially available feedstock produced from such technology using large scale manufacturing processes.

Your thoughts and comments are always welcome and appreciated.

--Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor