Silicor Materials, a small US-based maker of polysilicon with large ambitions, has signed an equipment contract for a planned factory in Iceland with Germany’s SMS Siemag, a builder of metallurgical plants.

SMS Siemag will supply all equipment and factory design services for the plant, which will be located at the Icelandic port of Grundartangi, and have an initial capacity of 16,000 metric tonnes per year. Silicor believes it will be able to optimise the plant to boost the output by another 20%.

“We’re taking meaningful steps to get this plant off the ground in an aggressive timeframe,” says Silicor chief executive Theresa Jester.

Silicor – which is based in California, and backed by the private-equity firm Hudson Clean Energy Partners – claims its proprietary metals-based technology has a capex cost just one-third that of the traditional polysilicon production process.

If proven at scale, Silicor’s technology could represent a breakthrough for the company and the upstream solar industry.

Even without a 20% output boost, Silicor's Iceland factory would be significant by the standards of the global polysilicon industry. REC Silicon's planned factory in China will tip the scales at 18,000MT.

Silicor, which has a small manufacturing facility in Ontario, chose Iceland for its first large factory due to the country’s vibrant aluminium sector; its abundant supply of cheap, clean electricity thanks to its geothermal resource; and its free-trade agreement with China, where many of the world’s largest buyers of solar-grade silicon are based.

Silicor is known to be contemplating additional factories in the US, Canada and the Middle East.