Major Chinese polysilicon supplier GCL Tech (GCL-Poly) announced on September 26 that it plans to develop a major manufacturing project in Wuhai, a prefecture-level city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The project will comprise 100,000 tons per year of production capacity for granular silicon, 150,000 tons per year of production capacity for high-purity nanocrystalline silicon, and renewable generation assets. This news was first reported by other Chinese renewable energy news websites.
As one the world’s leading suppliers for silicon materials, GCL Tech has been capturing huge orders due to its advanced manufacturing process for granular silicon. Its process has many advantages such as low energy consumption, more economical capital investment, short production flow, greater room for cost reduction, and low carbon emissions. Since 2021, GCL Tech has been able to arrange long-term supply agreements with clients including Shangji Automation, JA Solar, TCL-Zhonghuan, LONGi, Shuangliang Eco-Energy, and Akcome. The total quantity and value of these contracts come to 814,300 tons and RMB 220 billion respectively.
GCL Tech said once completed, the Wuhai project will raise its production capacity for granular silicon from 400,000 tons per year to 500,000 tons per year and raise its production capacity for high-purity nanocrystalline silicon from 150,000 tons per year to 300,000 tons per year. The additional production capacity will be sufficient to meet the growing demand for these kinds of materials in the future.
In its latest mid-year report, GCL Tech stated that its granular silicon has entered the “modular mass production phase.” GCL Tech built the world’s first production line for granular silicon at its base in Xuzhou (China’s Jiangsu Province). With a production capacity of 20,000 tons per year, the Xuzhou production line was fully ramped up by the first quarter of this year. Another newly added 30,000 tons per year of production capacity for granular silicon was also activated in the second quarter of this year. GCL Tech’s base in Leshan (China’s Sichuan Province) has 100,000 tons per year of production capacity for granular silicon as well. This base is designed in accordance with “the principles of systemization, standardization, digitalization, integration, intelligentization, and modularity.” The new production capacity of the Leshan base entered operation this July.
Zhu Gongshan, chairman of GCL Tech, said the use and provisioning of clean energy is the fundamental aspect of the whole supply chain for PV products. Furthermore, the ongoing material revolution plays a key role in the integration of low-cost PV generation assets into the wider grid system. Zhu emphasized that the granular silicon from his company is manufactured with a process that is significantly low in energy consumption. Hence, it is the essential “green” material for PV products. In sum, GCL Tech’s solutions fit the main development trend of the era of low-cost green energy.