SCHOTT Solar's high-quality products exploit the virtually inexhaustible potential of the sun as a renewable source of energy. For this purpose SCHOTT Solar produces important components for photovoltaic applications and solar energy plants with parabolic trough technology. In the photovoltaic industry, the compnay is one of the few ingetrated manufacturers of crystalline silicon wafers, cells and modules. Wafer production is mainly carried out through a WACKER SCHOTT Solar joint venture, which aims to ensure the supply of silicon necessary for long-term growth.

"olar Silicon is a project that I2BF Venture Capital and Arbat Capital have jointly undertaken in the city of Irkutsk (Far East Russia). The goal of the project is to establish production of multicrystalline silicon (multisilicon) ingots. Multisilicon is a key feedstock for solar cell production.nUsually, multicrystalline silicon is produced from metallurgical grade silicon through an energy and component - intensive Siemens Process, which involves a chloride-silane purification stage. Solar Silicon however, is using a new technological method of multisilicon production, developed by the Irkutsk Institute of Geochemistry. The method includes direct purification process in an arc furnace of high purity quartzite from one of the local Irkutsk Oblast mines. The direct method will allow 30-50% cost savings on each kilo of silicon produced.

Mayaterials is a company that received a SBIR Phase I grant for a project entitled: Solar Grade Silicon from Agricultural Byproducts. Their project will develop a process to convert renewable agricultural byproducts to solar grade silicon metal in an energy efficient and environmentally friendly manner. The hulls of rice and many other grain plants are rich in silica derived from the soil in which they are grown. This silica can be extracted in a highly purified form from rice hull ash to produce useful specialty chemicals. It can also be extracted to provide a basic feedstock for the production of solar grade silicon for the production of photovoltaic cells. This process will bypass the capital and energy intensive methods, such as the Siemens process, which are currently in use. The broader impact/commercial potential from this technology could develop a process which will enable the production of high purity silicon directly from agricultural byproducts without the use of the current energy intensive methods such as the Siemens process. The process uses an abundant waste product as a renewable material source in an energy-efficient manner to achieve a valuable product at low cost and with minimal environmental impact. Current production of crystalline photovoltaic cells is limited by the bottleneck of poly-silicon production. This innovative new process will enable downstream PV plants to run at full capacity, unconstrained by shortages of raw material, thus allowing more rapid adoption of solar energy at lower cost per kWp. Furthermore, the proposed process will be better for the environment in that it is much less energy intensive and uses less toxic chemicals than existing methods.

Electrodynamic Applications is a company that received a STTR PHASE I grant for a project entitled: Plasma Processing of Agricultural Waste into Photovoltaic Silicon. Their project will investigate the production of silane gas (SiH4) and photovoltaic-grade silicon (Sipv) from high silicon content agricultural waste. Current solar cell production struggles against the tremendous cost and complexity of refining Sipv or its more valuable gaseous pre-cursor SiH4. It is believed that the application of electromagnetic energy via a hydrogen plasma can be used to break SiO2 bonds and refine SiH4 directly from both lower grade silicon and from agricultural waste. This is a vast improvement over the current technique which requires the use of highly toxic chemical intermediaries and complex and capital intensive systems. Creating Sipv and SiH4 at lower cost from domestically available renewable resources will enable more aggressive and diverse investment in emerging solar energy technologies. This will help move the US toward nationally independent and environmentally clean energy, providing a broad positive impact both in terms of economy and national security.

Anaxtal Silicon is Anaxtal Silicon has developed the "Witter Green Cycle" for manufacturing a grade of silicon specifically tailored for the solar photovoltaic wafer and module manufacturers at a low cost.

Heliatek specializes in the development, production and commercialization of organic solar cells. Heliatek's technology aims to enable cost-effective and efficient roll-to-roll production from large area modules on low-cost and flexible substrates. The company uses therefore well-defined, non-polymeric organic materials with high thermic and photochemical stability.