Becancour Silicon Inc. (BSI), a subsidiary of Timminco Ltd., has entered into an agreement to supply solar-grade silicon to cell manufacturer Q-Cells AG.
Under the terms of the agreement, BSI will supply Q-Cells with contractually fixed supplies of 410 metric tons in 2008 and 3,000 metric tons in 2009 at fixed prices. The deliveries start immediately. Until the end of July 2008, the partners will negotiate a further contract on the delivery of up to 6,000 metric tons per year in the years 2010 to 2013. With this contract, Q-Cells will become BSI's largest customer for solar-grade silicon in 2009.
‘BSI has developed a proprietary process which enables it to produce solar-grade silicon by purifying metallurgical silicon,’ says Anton Milner, CEO of Q-Cells. ‘Q-Cells has tested unblended material from BSI extensively and has obtained very good results in cell production.’