Press Releases
6N Silicon Announces new Head Office and launches Production Plant
October 21, 2008 • Vaughan, Ontario
6N Silicon Inc. is pleased to announce its new Head Office and production facilities in Vaughan, Ontario. Shipments of solar grade polysilicon have commenced from the new 2,000 Tonne/year manufacturing facility, satisfying initial scheduled deliveries for 6N’s volume customer contracts.
Primary funding for the new production operation was provided by the company’s $20 million B Financing Round that closed in March of this year. Additional support was provided by the Government of Ontario’s Next Generation of Jobs Fund. Production commenced within six months of the financing, and within four months of securing this pre-existing facility. The last few years have seen large-scale shortages of purified silicon in the solar industry. With this initial production plant, 6N has confirmed its ability to add capacity quickly and at low capital cost. Further production expansions are planned.
The use of standard, pre-existing light-industrial facilities distinguishes the 6N operations from traditional and other alternative purification processes. These new operations demonstrate the compact footprint and low input energy requirements of the 6N process. Development and refinement of the 6N process has been conducted through the company’s three-year EOS Project, supported by the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) and Ontario’s Innovation Development Fund (IDF). The EOS Project is ongoing and remains housed at 6N’s original Mississauga facility.
Paolo Maccario, 6N Silicon CEO, said, “We are proud to have achieved this important milestone. On time and on budget, we have again demonstrated the core advantages of the 6N business and strength of our team. This is an exciting day for us and a promising time for the solar industry.”
6N Founder and CTO, Scott Nichol added, “It is very gratifying to see our vision of an affordable and easily scalable process realized and to see our hard development work pay off with the launch of this full scale production operation. Now that this facility has reached stable production, we can’t wait to add yet more capacity and refine the process even further.”