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ATS Solar enters polysilicon supply contract with WACKER Chemie |
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Sep 05, 2007 at 05:45 PM |
 ATS Automation Tooling Systems has said that its Photowatt France subsidiary has entered into a multi-year agreement to purchase high-purity polysilicon from WACKER Chemie AG. Under the agreement, WACKER will deliver polysilicon to support approximately 14 megawatts of Photowatt solar production per annum. Deliveries are expected to begin in January 2010 and continue for a nine-year period.
The continued tight supply of polysilicon is an issue as the PV market continues to grow with an average annual growth of 30 percent over the last five years. According to Yole Development, PV manufacturers and new entrants are forced to secure long-term polysilicon supply contracts to meet demand.
In tandem, as major polysilicon suppliers have been investing heavily in expanding production with much of this new capacity coming on-stream in 2009, suppliers are eager to lock in customers as over-supply concerns in that period could develop into major pricing issues.
"This polysilicon contract is an important next step in our plan to continue to strengthen Photowatt in advance of its spin out," said Ron Jutras, ATS President and CEO. "The agreement significantly improves our access to scarce polysilicon by providing us with a contracted supply from a highly respected global supplier at attractive long-term supply prices. It also clearly establishes an important strategic supply relationship between Photowatt and WACKER which we intend to build upon."
Photowatt has previously announced two long-term supply agreements with Deutsche Solar AG for the supply of polysilicon wafers and a long-term supply agreement for refined metallurgical silicon with Dow Corning.
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