In early February 2009, when the Dow Corning Corporation announced it was one of the very few industrial companies in the Midwest that not only earned a healthy profit, but had produced double-digit increases in annual revenue in 2008, the company credited the Hemlock Semiconductor Group, its solar energy materials unit, for much of the good news.

“Our joint venture Hemlock Semiconductor had another strong year, helping Dow Corning post increases in both sales and income,” said Dow Corning’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer J. Donald Sheets in a statement.

Since it was formed in 1961, Hemlock Semiconductor has manufactured polycrystalline silicon, the basic raw material that powered the computer chip industry. In 2002, as global interest grew in generating solar energy from photovoltaic cells, the company began providing greater amounts of “solar grade” polycrystalline silicon to solar cell and module manufacturers.

Costs Down, Demand Up
Driving Dow Corning and Hemlock Semiconductor’s business strategy is a sharp rise in energy production from photovoltaics and a steady decrease in the cost of generating power from the technology. In 2007, the last year for accurate figures, 2,100 megawatts of new photovoltaic generating capacity came online around the world, more than half in Germany, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the leading American trade association. The number of photovoltaic installations in the United States in 2007, many of them on the flat roofs of Wal-Mart and other superstores, increased 45 percent.

To keep up with the demand for its polycrystalline silicon, Hemlock is in the midst of a nearly $4 billion investment program to expand capacity. It is increasing production at its plant in Hemlock, a mid-Michigan community, where 1,400 people already work. Hemlock is building a $1.2 billion plant in Clarksville, Tenn. When both projects are completed in 2014, Hemlock Semiconductor will employ up to 1,200 more workers.
Hemlock Semiconductor supplies its mid-Michigan plant with raw silicon mined in Alabama and from several overseas nations.  It sells the finished product to photovoltaic manufacturers in the United States and around the world.

Good Green-Collar Jobs
The company, a joint venture between majority owner Dow Corning, Shin-Etsu Handotai Co. Ltd., and Mitsubishi Materials Corporation, does not disclose its revenue or specific details about wages and benefits. Jarrod Erpelding, the company’s spokesman, said employees fill dozens of job categories - designers, mechanical and electrical engineers, electricians, instrument operators, process control operators, pipefitters, millwrights, chemical plant operators. Hemlock Semiconductor employees, he said, earn wages that are equal to or better than the prevailing manufacturing wages in Michigan, which range from $14 to over $20 an hour depending on job classification and experience. Most employees also receive health and retirement benefits.

“Hemlock Semiconductor is a prime example of how investments in clean energy produce the job and economic growth of the future,” said Erpelding.  “We’ve also been encouraged by the focus on green energy investments in stimulus packages in the U.S., and from a number of other governments throughout the world. The U.S. and other countries see that this kind of investment not only benefits clean energy, but also creates more jobs, more wealth, and adds to our energy security.”

Erpelding confirmed that the economic downturn has weakened solar manufacturing markets, but said the company is convinced the slowdown is temporary.  Some of that confidence is the result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama on February 17, 2009, which calls for investing $2.5 billion in solar, wind, and geothermal development, and providing the renewable energy industry $6 billion more in loan guarantees over the next two years.

“The domestic photovoltaic market is just emerging,” said Erpelding. “Many see the U.S.  as the next big solar growth market. That hasn’t been the case with many industries in the U.S. for a long time.”