From Xinhua News Agency

At 9:00 on November 30, the reduction stage of Yongxiang New Energy Phase II located in the Wutongqiao District brought a historical moment with thunderous applause: the first lot of certified high-purity crystalline silicon of the 51,000t/a high-purity crystalline silicon project was successfully produced. According to quality tests, the quality indicators of the product are superior to those of solar-grade special-class products. This signifies that the "6th Yongxiang process" has fundamentally broken the industrial law of "quality ramp-up", for the product starts with high quality and becomes one of the best in the world as soon as it comes out. This also proves that the "modified Siemens process" works excellently and reliably.

Yongxiang New Energy Phase II Successfully Renders High-purity Crystalline Silicon

Construction of Yongxiang New Energy Phase II commenced on November 30, 2020, and the whole process of design, construction, commissioning, mass production and output of qualified product took only one year. "This project has set a new record of fastest engineering construction in the industry. The refined trichlorosilane reached electronic grade only 110 hours after startup of the plant. The quality indicators of the high-purity crystalline silicon are superior to those of solar-grade special-class products. This has broken the industrial knowledge that polycrystalline silicon production needs as a "half year quality ramp-up period," says Luo Zhou, Executive Deputy General Manager of Yongxiang New Energy Co., Ltd. The 1,000t/a electronic grade verification line implemented in the same period is also progressing on schedule. After commissioning, this plant will further enhance the quality of high-purity crystalline silicon by pursuing higher quality standard. 

A part of Yongxiang New Energy Phase II

According to Luo Zhou, the project uses the "6th Yongxiang process", which is a proprietary intellectual property of Yongxiang, and features 50,000t modularized construction standard, whole-process automatic control, full-closed material circulation system and new cascaded energy utilization system. A range of technical standards, design standards, construction standards, operation standards, safety standards and quality standards have been established. Implementation of the new process will allow the modified Siemens process to reduce comprehensive electricity consumption to below 45KWh/Kg-Si, heat consumption to 0 and unit consumption of silicon to 1.04, enhance the quality level to above electronic grade 2, and substantially reset the top criteria in the industry. Thanks to implementation of modularized construction standard, a new record of lowest investment intensity in the industry has been set, and rationalized plant layout has substantially reduced occupied land area. All-round implementation of automatic control will decrease the number of workers required per 10,000t output to less than 100. The 50,000t/a modularized plant was successfully started up in one time and the quality met the standard. This substantively proves the advanced nature, reliability and high quality of the "6th Yongxiang process", and lays a firm foundation for future development.

A part of Yongxiang New Energy Phase II

Mass production of qualified product at Yongxiang New Energy Phase II is but an epitome of Leshan's endeavor of building "the Green Silicon Valley of China". By courtesy of the national policy of "achieving carbon neutrality and reaching carbon emission peak", five of the top 10 PV enterprises in the world have settled in Leshan through direct incorporation or equity participation. The PV industry chain in Leshan has now expanded from "silicon material" to "solar cell" and continues expanding. Leshan's high-purity crystalline silicon production capacity now ranks among the highest globally and the Czochralski monocrystalline technology has taken an industry-leading position. The "Green Silicon Valley of China" is taking shape at an accelerated pace.

"We must concentrate our efforts on the Leshan base and help build the 'Green Silicon Valley of China' in Leshan." According to Luo Zhou, on June 30 this year, Tongwei Co., Ltd. and the Municipal Government of Leshan jointly declared that Tongwei will add another RMB 14 billion of investment to develop a 200,000t/a high-purity crystalline silicon project in Leshan. With Phase I of the project already commissioned, Leshan will become the world's first high-purity crystalline silicon production base with capacity over 100,000t/a.