HomeNewsEnergy Solar Silicon Solution Wins MIT Energy Plan Contest
Solar Silicon Solution Wins MIT Energy Plan Contest
| Friday, 04 May 2007
RSI Silicon debuts a far less expensive method of producing solar grade
Silicon, winning "People's Choice" award and first place in the Energy
Business Plan contest held by MIT.
"This new breakthrough process could have a dramatic impact on the cost
of future solar cells , accelerating market growth and future grid
parity."
Ten finalists from 61 applicants, narrowed down to 30 semi-finalists, presented ten-minute summaries before a panel
of judges in the concluding event of MIT's Ignite Clean Energy '07 Business
Presentation Competition. (Ref.)
James Dunn, RSI's VP of Operations and Business Development, and
advisor for the New Energy Congress, prepared and presented the winning entry on
RSI Silicon's behalf. (Ref.)
While the worldwide demand for solar energy has been surging, the supply has
been log-jammed by Silicon shortages, creating huge backlogs in fulfillment of
photovoltaic orders. Silicon production is at around 40,000 tons per year,
while the present demand is approaching 75,000 tons/year. Solar grade Silicon has traditionally come from the
scraps left over from semiconductor Silicon, the processing of which has become
more efficient, resulting in less waste, hence less solar grade feedstock.
This shortage is exacerbated by the skyrocketing growth of the PV industry.
As a result, the spot market price of solar grade Silicon has climbed nearly ten-fold in
five years to its present spot market price of over US$300 per kilogram, with
contract prices running $65-120/kg.
Bringing Down the Cost of Solar
RSI is a new energy materials company that has developed a unique
process for making solar grade Silicon at a production cost of around $7-9 per kilogram,
compared to a production cost of $25-30 via a typical Siemens plant. Additionally,
the capital costs for building a 5000 metric ton RSI Silicon plant is projected
to be one tenth the cost of a comparable Siemens process plant, and a shorter
completion time of just 15-18 months.
The net result is that once RSI is in high-volume production, the price
of photovoltaic solar products will be able to drop significantly,
making solar energy 35-60% cheaper than at present. The impact is
far-reaching for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, and in making
solar power not only feasible, but close to being
competitive economically with conventional grid energy.
The cost of the Silicon in a current panel or cell is about $1.50 per
Watt. RSI will reduce that to about $.25/W over the next 5 years.
This should help reduce the current retail cost from $4/W to under
$2/W, achieving grid parity at about $1/W, targeted for 2012-2015.
How RSI Achieves Low Price
Most Silicon plants make electronic grade "8 Nines" (99.999999%)
purity needed for semiconductors, using the Siemens process. A
National
Renewable Energy Laboratory study found that solar Silicon purity only
needs to
be six nines (99.9999% pure), with emphasis on Boron, Phosphorus, and
select metals. RSI has created a new proprietary process that makes
only solar-grade silicon of six nines purity, without needing all the
costly equipment and
tri-chlorosilane gases used with metallurgical Silicon feedstock.
Additional factors that contribute to the low cost are that the RSI process uses
simple, standard equipment; and draws from three proven industry processes, each
proven at scale. The process is safe, with no dangerous gases or
emissions, and uses low-cost raw materials rather than metallurgical-grade Silicon.. Thus, a typical
5000-ton plant can be built in 15 months, at one tenth the cost (only $50M) of Siemens process
plants ($500M), and be easily ramped to 15,000 tons per year capacity.
The fast plant fabrication time, and easy scalability is another factor
contributing to the low price, along with the high yield.
Milestones
The RSI proprietary process has been demonstrated on a small scale and vetted by
a leading Princeton scientist who received his Ph.D. from MIT. The process and
cost estimates in the plan were validated by Black and Veach, a leading
engineering firm. Patents have been filed on the proprietary process.
RSI has already received letters of intent for future orders to the tune of nearly half a billion dollars,
including an order from a leading industry United States PV manufacturer for over 1500 tons.
RSI is seeking $7.5M to build a pilot production line and R&D facility, followed by a
large Silicon plant to produce up to 15,000 tons per year of Silicon; with over
$350M revenue projected in year 5, and $200M gross profit. The
return-on-investment time is projected to be less than two years.
Dunn's presentation was the last of the ten finalists, and was faced
with a
panel of droopy-eyed judges, so he had the added task of rousing them.
Following the presentation and award Tuesday evening, Dunn was
approached by
numerous investors both in person as well as by email. He
will not have time to vet all of the inquiries, which is a nice problem
to have
for this widely-recognized, high-value proposal.
"I kind of submitted it on a whim", said Dunn, who was approached by
Dr. Linda Plano, the Competition Chair, who was concerned earlier on that they
needed more entries. "Although RSI has been in stealth mode for the
last 18 months, we decided that it was time to launch a pilot plant and hit the
mainstream", Dunn said. He has written scores of business plans,
focusing his efforts more recently on disruptive renewable energy technologies.
The Winners
The grand prize awarded to RSI Silicon for the best investor pitch was
valued at
$111,000 including $25,000 cash;
3 months PR services from Bell Pottinger (value: $40,000); $15,000
legal services from Mintz Levin;
one year Cummings Properties office space (value: $25,000); and a
scholarship for up to three team members for the Advanced Invention 2
Venture to be held by the NCIIA August 1-4 (value: $6,000).
Two teams tied for second place: Fox2 Technologies of Hampton, N.H.,
and Bagazo
of Cambridge, Mass. Fox2 Technologies is developing new sensor
technology for airplane and trucking operators that improves fuel
efficiency by more than 5%, improves profitability, and significantly
reduces carbon emissions.
Bagazo seeks to facilitate socially-responsible investments in
developing
countries by creating sustainable businesses that will distribute
superior and
more environmentally-friendly cooking fuels produced from agricultural
waste.
Third place also saw a tie, between GreenRay of Lincoln, Mass., and C3Bio Energy
of Cambridge, Mass. GreenRay is developing a revolutionary product that
will transform solar electric systems into a broadly accepted household
appliance. C3 BioEnergy will manufacture renewable propane and a hydrogen
by-product from biomass feedstocks.
About Ignite Clean Energy
The Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) Competition, sponsored by the MIT
Enterprise Forum Energy Special Interest
Group, began in 2004 to stimulate the growing clean energy industry in
New England. It provides start-up clean energy companies and
entrepreneurs with the opportunities and resources to develop business
skills, network with industry professionals and the chance to attract
potential investors. The winners will be awarded a total of $250,000 in
cash and services.
# # #
SOURCES:
Phone and email correspondence with Jim Dunn, who conveyed the RSI
business plan executive summary and the MIT contest power
point presentation.
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