New economy revives plant: Silicon factory enters solar cell industry

Globe Specialty Metals fired up two furnaces in the last two months at its Globe Metallurgical plant on Highland Avenue after upgrading equipment used to make metallurgical- grade silicon.

The company plans to invest $35 million more in the facility during the next four years to expand the plant's capacity to be able to produce a purified silicon used in solar cells.

State officials, who negotiated an unusual incentive package last year for Globe that includes low-cost power and tax breaks, hope the plant will put the state at the forefront of the solar power industry.

"The idea of leveraging hydropower to produce solar power is the first in the country," Gov. David A. Paterson said Monday during a news conference at the plant to mark its reopening. "This green-to-green network will be a prelude, I hope, in this country to a national protocol for energy efficiency and energy conservation."

In exchange for a 40-megawatt allocation of cheap electricity from the New York Power Authority, Globe Specialty Metals has agreed to allow the state's Empire State Development Corp. to offer 25 percent of the plant's solar-grade silicon at a reduced price to solar cell manufactur-

ers that locate in the state.

Paterson called the deal one of the first of its kind.

"If we are going to emerge as victorious after this economic downturn, the worst we've seen in 80 years, we are going to have to be plugged in to the new economy, one based on knowledge, technology and innovation," Paterson said.

The entire Niagara Falls project is estimated to cost $60 million and to eventually employ 500 people.

Globe Specialty Metals began work on the shuttered Falls plant in May 2008 and restarted the plant's two furnaces during the last two months. The facility, which is currently capable of producing 30,000 tons of metallurgical-grade silicon each year, employs 138 workers and contractors.

Silicon produced at the plant is now used in a variety of consumer products, like cosmetics and waxes, as well as an additive for the aluminium industry. A portion of it is also sold to other plants to make a highly purified silicon that can be used in solar cells and electronic chips, said Arden Simms, Globe Specialty Metal's chief operating officer.

Once the second phase of upgrades to the Falls plant is complete, the company expects to produce 4,000 tons of solar-grade silicon on site each year.

The demand for solar-grade silicon is expected to grow rapidly during the next two decades, Simms said.

"Silicon metal is what takes these free sun rays and transmits the energy contained so that it can be converted into unlimited amounts of electricity-- clean electricity," said Alan Kestenbaum, executive chairman of Globe Specialty Metals.

Kestenbaum said the first-phase renovation of the Niagara Falls plant cost $7 million more than expected -- primarily to ensure the plant was environmentally sound.

More than 50 people -- including New York Power Authority CEO Richard M. Kessel; Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Lewiston; Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster; and Empire State Development Corp. Chairman Dennis M. Mullen -- gathered at the plant Monday morning to celebrate its opening.

Paterson said the state already has struck a deal with solar cell manufacturer Spectra Watt of Oregon to open a factory in Dutchess County that will use 200 metric tons of silicon from Globe each year.

"What you're seeing is that the companies that network and do this kind of work are moving to the region where they can find each other," Paterson said, "which is right here in New York State."

djgee@buffnews.com

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