Air Liquide Secures $18 Million of Contracts from Photovoltaic Manufacturers

Air Liquide (Paris, France) has further consolidated its position as a leading global supplier of specialty and carrier gases, with several fresh contracts finalized since the beginning of this year. Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, TX) reports that the deals call for a total investment of about $18 million and will mainly cater to the specialty gas requirements of photovoltaic cell manufacturers across five countries, including three key international players in the solar energy sector. Two of these deals include partnerships with operators of the world's top two solar-energy ventures, each accounting for more than 1,000 megawatts (MW) of annual power output.

Under a deal with Renewable Energy Corporation ASA (OSL:REC) (Sandvika, Norway), Air Liquide will supply specialty and carrier gases required for Renewable Energy's upcoming photovoltaic cell and wafer-manufacturing facility in Singapore. The facility is being designed with a production capacity of 1,500 MW per year. Air Liquide will also provide onsite services for the venture, which is reportedly the largest ever investment made in the Southeast Asian photovoltaic sector. Renewable Energy, the world's largest supplier of silicon components for the photovoltaic sector, has a production potential of more than 20,000 tons per year of polysilicon and 2,000 tons per year of silicon.

In another contract with Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited (Wuxi, China), the world's second-largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells, Air Liquide will supply carrier gases to the company's existing production facilities located in Wuxi. Suntech's annual production capacity presently stands at more than 1,000 MW.

Air Liquide's ongoing ventures also include the supply of gas to two production sites of Q-Cells SE (Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany), one in Germany – the largest of its kind in the world – and another site in Malaysia. An agreement to this effect was signed between the two firms in January of this year.

Air Liquide also entered into a long-term supply agreement with Bosch ErSol, a merger company formed by the acquisition of ErSol Solar Energy AG (Erfurt, Germany) by Robert Bosch GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany). Air Liquide will supply gas for Bosch ErSol's thin-film plant being set up in Erfurt. Air Liquide has also secured long-term supply contracts from five other new solar-cell manufacturing companies across Asia and Europe.

Air Liquide specializes in the production of pure and rare gases that are used extensively in the industrial, health and energy sectors. These gases also find varied applications in all stages of the solar cell production process. High quantities of nitrogen and hydrogen are used in the production of polysilicon wafers. Large volumes of nitrogen, along with helium and argon, are used in the manufacture of monosilicon wafers. The crystalline variant of silicon cells is created using specialty gases ammonia and silane in the presence of nitrogen as a carrier gas. Carrier gases such as nitrogen and hydrogen, specialty gases such as silane, and nitrogen trifluoride, doping agents such as phosphorous oxychloride, and coating mixtures are used in the production of thin-film silicon wafer cells.

Dopant mixtures are used to create the basic bipolar p-n junctions of the solar cell, while carrier cases are used to circulate the dopants and specialty gases within the production unit. Nitrogen trifluoride is used in the process of plasma etching of silicon wafers to create integrated circuits.

Being a clean energy alternative with minimal environmental impact, the demand for solar energy is expected to increase substantially during 2010, in turn driving the growth of Air Liquide. Several photovoltaic-cell manufacturers are gearing up to meet the soaring demand through capacity expansion programs. By means of newly forged business partnerships, Air Liquide is looking to retain its position as a leading supplier of specialty gases.

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