Proceedings of ISMSOG’2010, the First International Symposium on Polysilicon Produced by Metallurgical Methods

Thread Content

On September 13, 2010, experts and entrepreneurs from around the world gathered at the picturesque Shahu Lake in Yinchuan, known as the \"Jiangnan of the North\", to discuss strategies for the development of metallurgical solar polysilicon. The International Symposium on Solar Polysilicon Production by Metallurgical Methods 2010 (ISMSOG’2010) is being held here; this is the first international symposium of its kind focused on solar polysilicon production via metallurgical methods in the world. With the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry in recent years, reducing the cost of photovoltaic systems and shortening the payback period have become key issues. Polysilicon materials play an important role in the energy payback period of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules and systems. Therefore, it is urgent to develop low-cost, low-energy-consuming, and environmentally friendly solar-grade silicon technology. The metallurgical method is a new process developed in recent years to meet the quality requirements for solar-grade polysilicon. Due to its low energy consumption, low cost, environmental friendliness, and suitability for large-scale industrial production, it has currently become a focus of research on new technologies for solar-grade polysilicon in various countries. To better leverage the important role played by metallurgical-process solar-grade silicon materials in promoting the development of the photovoltaic industry, as well as to foster technical exchanges, strengthen international cooperation, and facilitate the sharing of business information, the China Metallurgical Process Solar Polysilicon Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance organized and hosted this conference. Ningxia Power Generation Group, the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Shanghai ProNew Energy Co., Ltd. were responsible for organizing the event. **The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ningxia Autonomous Region Party Committee provided strong support for this conference. At 9 a.m. sharp on September 13, 2010, the conference began with its opening ceremony. Seating on the main stage at the opening ceremony were: Mr. Qi Tongsheng, Deputy Governor of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; Mr. Zhao Yuwen, Vice President of the Chinese Society for Renewable Energy and Head of the Photovoltaic Committee; Ms. Zhang Yi and Mr. He Zuoxiu, academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mr. Chen Zhimin, Deputy Director of the High-Tech Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Mr. Ma Xirong, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Ningxia Autonomous Region; Mr. Shi Jun, President of Shanghai ProNew Energy Co., Ltd. and Chairman of the China Metallurgical Solar Polysilicon Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance; Mr. Liu Yingkuan, President of Ningxia Power Generation Group; Mr. RENE BOISVERT, President of BSI Canada; as well as officials from relevant departments and agencies in the Ningxia Autonomous Region. The opening ceremony was presided over by Guan Ning, deputy general manager of Ningxia Power Generation Group. Chairman Liu Yingkuan, Academician Zhang Yi, President Shi Jun, and Vice Chairman Qi Tongsheng delivered congratulatory speeches one after another. Mr. Liu Yingkuan focused on highlighting the achievements of Ningxia Power Generation Group in the fields of metallurgical polysilicon and the photovoltaic industry over the past two years. Academician Zhang Yi offered praise and encouragement for the technology and practices related to metallurgical polysilicon from a scientific perspective. Vice President Qi Tongsheng gave enthusiastic approval to the development of both metallurgical polysilicon and the photovoltaic industry from an industrial standpoint. The guests highly praised the significant progress made in polysilicon production using metallurgical methods in our country, and expressed their support and congratulations for the photovoltaic industry. This international seminar was hosted by the China Metallurgical Process Solar Polysilicon Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance. At the opening ceremony, Dr. Shi Jun, the chairman of the alliance, introduced to the guests present the background of the establishment of the China Metallurgical Process Polysilicon Alliance as well as the work carried out since its inception. The China Metallurgical Method Solar Polysilicon Alliance was formed spontaneously by domestic research institutions and enterprises, and was established in September 2009. The member organizations of the alliance are all top domestic enterprises and academic institutions engaged in metallurgical polysilicon production. After its establishment, the member institutions of the alliance worked together in good faith, sharing ideas and knowledge, to overcome one challenge after another, achieve breakthrough after breakthrough, and create miracle after miracle. The cooperation among the members of this alliance has become a model of industry-academia-research collaboration in the history of China’s academic community. The metallurgical polysilicon project undertaken by the affiliated enterprises has been included by the Ministry of Science and Technology in the Science and Technology Support Program as well as the 12th Five-Year Plan for the \"863\" Program. After the opening ceremony, the conference held a group photo of the delegates. That is, moving on to the academic presentation. Special invited experts including Vice President Zhao Yuwen of the Chinese Society for Renewable Energy, Academician He Zuoxiu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Kazuki Morita from the University of Tokyo, General Manager Sheng Zhilin of the Solar Energy Division of Ningxia Power Generation Group, Dr. Shi Jun, President of Shanghai ProNew Energy Co., Ltd., Professor Chen Chao from Xiamen University, Professor Garbriella Tranell from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Mr. Larry Wang from Evans Analytical Group, and Mr. Yin Zhongrong from the Beijing Nonferrous Metals Research Institute, delivered academic presentations one after another. Each guest brought the latest market and technological information from around the world, earning enthusiastic applause from the audience on several occasions. At 4 p.m. sharp, a guest dialogue was held at the main venue. The guests who participated in the dialogue included eight prominent figures in the global hydrometallurgy industry: Mr. He Zuoxiu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; Mr. Liu Yingkuan, chairman of Ningxia Power Generation Group; Mr. Kazuki Morita, a professor at the University of Tokyo; Mr. Yang Jirong, chief engineer of Xiamen Jiake; Mr. Scott Nichol, president of Calisolar Corporation in the United States; Mr. Jammes May, president of Midland Silicon Company in the United States; Mr. Rene Boisvert, president of BSI, a company affiliated with Timminco in Canada; and Mr. Chen Genmao, research and development director of Canadian Solar (Trina Solar). The host of the guest dialogue was Dr. Shi Jun, President of the China Metallurgical Law Solar Polysilicon Industry Alliance and CEO of Shanghai ProNew Energy Co., Ltd. Dr. Shi Jun first asked the guests to introduce themselves, and then presented the research progress on polycrystalline silicon produced by metallurgical methods in the institution she represents. Over the past two years, despite being hit by the financial tsunami, metallurgical polysilicon has not only managed to survive tenaciously but also achieved remarkable results thanks to the persistent efforts of these outstanding individuals. Mr. Liu from Ningxia Power Generation Group announced that a 90MW power plant using the metallurgical process will be completed this year. Ats, BSI, and CaliSolar also stated that the efficiency of their polycrystalline cells using this metallurgical process has reached over 16%. Professor Morita, Professor Chen Chao, and Academician He Zuoxiu respectively introduced their work on the purification of materials using metallurgical methods and the removal of impurities. There are also underlying tensions among international metallurgical polysilicon manufacturers. Dow Corning announced the acquisition of 49% of BSI’s silicon business, Calisolar in the United States announced the purchase of Canadian company 6N SILICON to use as a factory for producing polysilicon via metallurgical methods, and South Korea’s POSCO announced its intention to acquire Norwegian company ELKEM for $1 billion. What are the stories behind these acquisitions by such giants, and what developments are underway in this industry? These are questions that the attendees were interested in knowing. When host Dr. Shi asked, “What share can metallurgical polysilicon hold in the photovoltaic market over the next three to five years?” ”At that moment, the scene reached its climax. Guests from companies such as CaliSolar, BSI, Ningxia Power Generation Group, Xiamen Jiake, and CSI shared their opinions, and surprisingly, there was general consensus that metallurgical polysilicon would account for around 50% of the market share for silicon used in photovoltaic applications in five years’ time. Dr. V. Dosaj, the person in charge of metallurgical polysilicon at Dow Corning in the United States, also raised his hand to speak from the audience. He discussed Dow Corning’s latest progress in the field of metallurgical polysilicon, mentioning that the company has discontinued its original HP1201 project, but has moved up the start date of the HP1501 project, which was originally scheduled to begin in 2012, to this June. Unlike HP1101 and 1201, 1501 is no longer UMG but SOG, which is solar-grade polysilicon produced by metallurgical methods. The guests also had an honest discussion on the current problems associated with the metallurgical method, including issues related to purity, degradation, and quality stability. Overall, with continuous technological advancements and an increasing scale of application for metallurgical polysilicon, many problems have been resolved; its performance in terms of purity, electrical properties, as well as the conversion efficiency and degradation of the solar cells manufactured from it, is now on par with that of polysilicon produced by the Siemens method. Moreover, economic indicators such as cost, energy consumption, and production scale are increasingly suitable for the needs of large-scale photovoltaic production. The guest dialogue this time was truly star-studded and full of excitement. Those seated on the stage are the world’s top experts and entrepreneurs working in the field of metallurgical production of solar-grade polysilicon. Many experts delivered witty remarks, and since the dialogue was conducted in both Chinese and English, there were no linguistic barriers to communication and interaction. The conversation, which was supposed to end at 5:30, went on until 7 o’clock because the guests were so fascinating, which caused the dinner to be postponed by an hour as well. Dr. Shi will provide a detailed introduction to this guest dialogue in a separate article. On the second day of the conference, September 14th, academic presentations were held throughout the day. The academic presentations were held in two separate sessions. A total of over 120 academic papers were submitted for this conference, of which 65 were selected for presentation. All the presentations underwent rigorous review by experts, and they will be published in the EI-indexed journal \"Acta Metallurgica Sinica\" after the conference. These papers bring together the latest research findings and advancements in various aspects of the technology related to the metallurgical method for producing polycrystalline silicon on a global scale. They are organized into four topics: new technologies and equipment for producing ultra-metallurgical-grade silicon, new technologies and equipment for purifying and preparing polycrystalline silicon, standards for quality testing, analysis, and evaluation of solar-grade silicon materials, as well as the production and application of low-cost polycrystalline silicon solar cells using metallurgical methods. This is also the first time in the global field of polysilicon produced by metallurgical methods that there exists such a professional, rapid, and widely accessible academic exchange platform. The depth and breadth of the papers and academic presentations presented at this conference are unprecedented, indicating that both the research level and application level of polysilicon produced by metallurgical methods are continuously improving. Due to the large number of papers and their high quality, it was necessary to reduce the originally scheduled time of 20 minutes per presentation to 10 minutes; even so, the time allocated for each session was extended by nearly an hour, both in the morning and in the afternoon. Almost all well-known international manufacturers of polysilicon using metallurgical methods were present at the conference. In addition to Corning, CALISOLAR, and Midland mentioned above, there were also BSI under TIMMINCO, 6N SILICON, CSI, and others. Furthermore, renowned scholars from various international research institutions such as the University of Tokyo and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology were also present. A total of over 220 guests from home and abroad attended, far exceeding the organizers’ target of around 80 guests. The entire conference venue was filled with distinguished guests, shining with brilliance, and the academic quality of the papers was extremely high. However, the brightest stars at this conference were still the enterprises and experts from China. In recent years, thanks to the efforts of many pioneers, China’s metallurgical polysilicon industry has grown from nothing to something substantial, evolving from a weak sector to a strong one. Today, it boasts production capacities in the thousand-ton range, 10 MW-scale power plants, and photovoltaic power plants powered entirely by metallurgical polysilicon that are currently under construction at a capacity of 100 MW. Companies such as Ningxia Power Generation Group, Shanghai Pro, and Xiamen Jiake are not only leaders in the domestic production of polysilicon using metallurgical methods; they have also quickly caught up with and surpassed their international counterparts who started earlier, achieving outstanding results. Similarly, the research achievements in metallurgical polysilicon obtained by experts from institutions such as Xiamen University, Northeastern University, Kunming University of Science and Technology, the Institute of Process Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian University of Technology, and University of Science and Technology Beijing have also attracted worldwide attention. This is why, in China, an international conference organized by a domestic alliance that was established just one year ago attracts so many companies and experts from around the world. The experts present were surprised and impressed by the fact that China has so many scholars and enterprises engaged in research on polysilicon produced by metallurgical methods, that such in-depth and extensive research is being carried out, and that such remarkable results have been achieved. Dow Corning in the United States approached Dr. Shi, saying it never expected there to be so many companies and institutions in China engaged in research on polysilicon produced by metallurgical methods, and hoping to obtain the conference proceedings and PPT documents of the reports as soon as possible. Companies such as BSI and CaliSolar made similar requests. This conference is a major event for the polysilicon industry in the field of world metallurgical methods, as well as an important gathering for the academic community. This conference not only provided a highly successful and ideal platform for exchange within China’s domestic metallurgical polysilicon industry, but also offered a unique venue for China to engage with the international community as well as for industrial and academic exchanges on a global scale. Afterward, several international companies inched to know whether they could join China’s metallurgical polysilicon alliance, asked when the next meeting would be held, and various domestic and foreign companies as well as local authorities expressed interest in hosting the next meeting. As the first international seminar held by the Metallurgical Polysilicon Alliance, it can be said that this conference represented an unprecedented act of unity among the international industry involved in metallurgical polysilicon production; it was a conference marked by a determination to achieve success, as well as a conference full of vitality and energy. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4afdca8c0100lue9.html?retcode=0