Q-Cells terminates supply agreement with LDK Solar
Q-Cells SE has terminated the agreement concluded in December 2007 with the Chinese solar company LDK Solar Co. Ltd for the supply of solar wafers, as LDK Solar did not fulfill significant contractual obligations. The original agreement specified the supply of solar wafers on the basis of a contractually fixed amount of silicon totaling 43,000 tons for the years from 2009 to 2018, with wafer supplies on the basis of approximately 1,000 tonnes of silicon relating to 2009. At the beginning of 2008, Q-Cells made a payment of USD 244.5 million in the context of this agreement. This payment can be reclaimed in the event of termination of the agreement and is secured by a bank guarantee at a German bank upon first demand.
The contractual parties have differing opinions concerning the validity of the termination of the agreement. Direct discussions between the two companies and a parallel arbitration process at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris have not resulted in an amicable settlement yet.
In September 2009, LDK Solar producing polysilicon solar wafers reported the successful release of initial production lot and the start of driving to rated capacity of the first production line of their polysilicon plant in Xinyu, China. The plant's capacity will be 15,000 t per annum of polysilicon.
During the last decades in China several large plants started silicon materials production for semiconductor and solar industry. Before LDK Solar startup, the largest polysilicon plant located in Laeshan and built according to the process design of Giprosintez (Volgograd) was annually outputting 3000 MT.
Girposintez, Volgograd, is one of the leading Russian design institutes. Long-term experience in silicon organics, thorough studying and summarizing of the world's leading TCS and PCS production technologies, proprietary patents and know-how enable Giprosintez to rightfully become Russia's leader in the field of TCS and polysilicon production.
Giprosintez is the only Russian institute developing the entire set of documentation for polysilicon production facilities in 3D. Today the documentation developed by Volgograd designers based on 3D modeling is used for construction of new polysilicon production in Usol'ye-Sibirskoye, Irkutsk region.
