One of the world's largest aluminium suppliers, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) will enter the silicon metal market through a solar-powered plant in the United Arab Emirates.
EGA said it plans to start up its first silicon metal plant in India as early as next year.
Currently, UAE Global Aluminium produces 40,000 tonnes of aluminium using solar photovoltaic power.
Currently, about a quarter of EGA's production capacity is concentrated in cast alloys. Casting alloys, using a mix of metallic silicon and aluminum, is focused on making components for the automotive industry, and the construction of metallic silicon plants can also be extended to other domestic industries, including solar photovoltaics.
EGA imports nearly 60,000 tons of silicon metal from China every year, and China's silicon metal production accounts for nearly 70% of the world's total.
Building a factory in the UAE could boost the UAE’s solar PV manufacturing value chain, and EGA also pointed out that the use of solar PV to produce silicon metal would decarbonize a link in the supply chain, which currently uses coal-based electricity.
This isn't EGA's first project to use solar energy in manufacturing. Last year, EGA partnered with UAE power company Dubai Water and Electricity Authority, which provided EGA with 56,000GWh of solar power annually to produce 40,000 tonnes of aluminium, which is sold under the CelestiAL brand name.
