Ferroglobe to build plant for upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon

Ferroglobe, the company arisen from the merger of Grupo FerroAtlántica and Globe Specialty Metals, has announced that it will build a production facility for upgraded metallurgical-grade (UMG) silicon to supply the solar industry with an initial annual capacity of 1,400 metric tons (MT) in Puertollano in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real.

At its investor day on October 17, Ferroglobe said that the investment costs would amount to €75 million and completion of construction was scheduled for the second half of 2018.

A year earlier, in September 2016, Grupo Villar Mir, the majority shareholder of Ferroglobe, had announced a different plan: The UMG silicon plant should have a production capacity of 3,000 MT and be built on the premises of Ferroglobe’s R&D subsidiary Silicio FerroSolar in Sabon (A Coruña) in northern Spain, where the company’s UMG technology has been developed since 2006.

So far, only Norway-based Elkem Solar has been able to establish itself as a viable UMG silicon supplier for the solar industry.