From Yesterday’s Motor City to Tomorrow’s Solar-Cell State?
Could the state of Michigan see a revived economy and a new place in a renewable fuel future? The possibility of that happening got a boost when Hemlock Semiconductor Corp. began operating the world’s largest polysilicon production plant near Hemlock in western Saginaw County, Michigan.
According to recent post in Triple Pundit, the new Hemlock facility will churn out 9,000 metric tons of polysilicon — a key element in solar photovoltaic cells — each year. With another 10,000 tons already being produced annually at an older plant, Hemlock would be on pace to become a force to be reckoned with in the solar power industry.
Founded in 1960, Hemlock’s Michigan facility was the “first fully integrated polycrystalline silicon plant,” according to the company. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Corning in 1979, and began producing solar-grade polysilicon in 2001.
Considering how the state of Michigan has been hit hard by the general U.S. decline in manufacturing and the auto industry in particular, developments like these bode well not only for the solar industry but for the Hemlock community as well.
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