On July 22, GCL TECH held a completion ceremony for the first production line of the 100,000-ton GCL FBR granular silicon project at the granular silicon discharging site of its subsidiary Leshan GCL New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. ("Leshan GCL").
The fact that this project has begun operation means that the modularization replication capacity of GCL TECH's GCL FBR granular silicon capacity has now reached 100,000 tons, laying a solid foundation for the company to continue moving towards replicating higher-level modularization in the future.

 Previously, the company had also put a 60,000-ton granular silicon project into production in Xuzhou, Jiangsu.

Its Leshan base, where the 100,000-ton granular silicon project is located, is the first granular silicon base built by GCL TECH in western China, and is also one of GCL's green, ecological and smart factories.

Located in Leshan in Sichuan province, which has abundant hydropower resources, the project enjoys unique advantages in terms of green energy.

At the site of the Leshan GCL project, the silane reaction towers shone in the sun with metallic luster. The fluidized beds operated continuously, while granular silicon products such as millet grains were continuously discharged.

 In the spacious central data center, the staff all pay close attention to the big screen, monitoring, analyzing and scheduling each process and monitoring real-time data in an alert and orderly manner.

According to GCL TECH, at present, the Leshan GCL granular silicon project is operating stably, and various parameters such as product quality, production efficiency, process technology, and cost control have reached or even exceeded targets.

Once the project reaches its planned capacity, it will effectively alleviate the vigorous market demand for GCL FBR granular silicon, further demonstrate the technological advantages of GCL FBR granular silicon, and consolidate its leading position in the market for photovoltaic raw materials.

 At the same time, GCL TECH will focus more on granular silicon, a low-carbon high-tech silicon-based material, in order to form a photovoltaic low-carbon and zero-carbon industrial chain, assist the new energy industry with further decarbonization, and promote the innovation, upgrading, and technological revolution of the global clean energy industry in the context of “peak carbon emissions” and “carbon neutrality”.

On the evening of July 21, GCL TECH announced that its subsidiary Leshan GCL had successfully produced high-quality granular silicon products that meet the needs of monocrystalline materials.

 

According to the announcement, the Leshan GCL granular silicon project has a designed capacity of 100,000 tons. It is the first newly built 100,000-ton-class granular silicon project in the world to fully adopt the design concept of “systematization, standardization, digitization, integration, intelligence, and modularization” with full proprietary intellectual property rights. The successful completion and operation of this project mean that the granular silicon capacity has officially begun large-scale expansion, which will in turn bring the "carbon neutrality" goals of the global energy industry closer to being realized.

The industry has been paying close attention to this project.

 According to a senior industry analyst, an industry insider told reporters that GCL TECH's FBR granular silicon, as a next-generation, silicon-based new material with multiple core advantages such as low cost, high efficiency and a low carbon footprint, will reshape the innovation and technology patterns of the photovoltaic industry and have a profound and far-reaching impact on the future development of the photovoltaic industry and the clean energy revolution.

 The successful operation of the Leshan GCL granular silicon project has had a significant impact on the raw material industry structure of the photovoltaic industry.

 "In the near future, as hundreds of thousands of tons of newly added granular silicon capacity are successively put into production at GCL TECH's bases in Baotou, Hohhot, and other locations, the huge gap between supply and demand for the 'scrambled for' silicon will be greatly reduced. We will witness exponential growth in the production of granular silicon thanks to its multiple core advantages such as low cost and high efficiency, as well as the spillover effect from its low carbon footprint,"he said.

With a Chinese patent under its belt, GCL FBR granular silicon technology is a "black technology" that has been developed by GCL TECH for more than a decade. Compared to the rod-shaped silicon that is made via the company's traditional processes, GCL FBR granular silicon has unique advantages in terms of cost, carbon emissions, and product quality.

In October 2021, after obtaining the first-ever granular silicon carbon footprint certification from an authoritative organization in China, GCL TECH was then awarded the world's first-ever granular silicon carbon footprint certification issued by the ADEME (French Environment and Energy Management Agency). This certifies that the carbon footprint of 1 kilogram of granular silicon produced is the equivalent of just 37,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide, far lower than the previous world record held by the German company Wacker, which was the equivalent of 57,559 kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted.

Compared with the rod-shaped silicon that is made using traditional processes, every 10,000 tons of granular silicon produced can reportedly reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 389,000 tons.
According to the research findings of ETH Zurich in Switzerland, one hectare of tree canopy area can absorb 205 tons of carbon dioxide each year. In other words, every 10,000 tons of granular silicon produced is equivalent to planting 1.9 million more trees per year.