Solar Energy
Solar energy is the fastest growing energy technology in the world. Volatile crude oil prices, energy independence concerns and environmental issues have helped to drive increased interest in clean, renewable energy sources and have made solar energy one of the world's hottest technologies. As a segment, growth opportunity in solar is significant. According to NREL, the amount of solar energy hitting the earth in 15 hours is equal to the energy represented by all of the crude oil remaining in the ground. And, despite the fact that the solar market has grown at greater than a 40% annual rate since the late 1990's, it still currently represents less than 1% of the world's energy supply.
At its core, the majority of the solar market is based on polysilicon and silicon wafers. As a longtime leader in producing polysilicon and wafers for the semiconductor industry, MEMC is uniquely poised to help increase the prevalence of solar technology around the world.
Silicon: The Element
Harnessing the sun's solar energy was long a goal of modern society. However, efficiently capturing the sun's energy was something that eluded scientists for many years. Surprisingly, Silicon, a base element that goes into making 156mm wafers, and therefore the technology that makes it possible to harness the sun's energy, occurs naturally and abundantly in nature. However, only a handful of firms in the world have the capability to produce large volumes of the ultra-pure polysilicon required for use in wafers.
Silicon and the Sun
Silicon acts as a semiconductor in that depending upon the manufacturing and production process, it can convey electrons, in a variety of ways, from one place to another. By harnessing this ability for the semiconductor industry, MEMC pioneered new techniques and material processes that allowed for greater efficiencies and features that benefited our customers.
MEMC Solar
Utilizing five decades of development, production, and research in silicon and wafer technology, MEMC extended its expertise into the solar wafer market in 2007. The result is a proven and robust process with tremendous cost and productivity advantages for the solar industry. We are currently working on enhancing solar wafer efficiencies, as well as other pioneering efforts that will impact the solar market for years to come. As technical advances anel other factors continue to increase the pervasiveness of solar around the world, MEMC will be there providing a solid and reliable foundation to build on.