{"id":94133,"date":"2025-08-27T06:32:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=94133"},"modified":"2025-08-27T06:32:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T21:02:04","slug":"stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Solar Silicon: A Stellar Project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94135\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar-300x158.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar-1024x538.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar-768x403.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Australian firm Stellar PV recently scored government cash towards investigating the potential for a local &#8216;world-class&#8217; silicon ingot and wafer facility. Discover more about the company and its plans for creating these crucial materials for solar panel manufacturing.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>What&#8217;s Stellar PV Doing?<\/h2>\n<p>The company has set its sights on developing a 2\u202fGW-scale facility for producing silicon ingots and wafers at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.townsville.qld.gov.au\/lansdown\">Lansdown Eco\u2011Industrial Precinct<\/a> in Queensland, approximately 40\u202fkilometres south of Townsville.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/panels\/\">Solar panels<\/a> are comprised of cells, which are made using wafers produced from thinly-sliced ingots.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-94134\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-cell-process.jpg\" alt=\"From polysilicon to solar panels\" width=\"900\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-cell-process.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-cell-process-300x76.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-cell-process-768x195.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The company hopes to have the facility up and running in 2028, pending regulatory approvals.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/stellarpv.com.au\/\">Stellar PV<\/a> is preparing to manufacture monocrystalline silicon ingots using the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Czochralski_method\">Czochralski method<\/a>. The following video from the University of NSW describes the basics of Czochralski (Cz) ingot pulling:<\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"UNSW Czochralski (Cz) ingot pulling\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/skRmyhSOu28?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Stellar PV will be using the latest advancements in the Czochralski method.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;By integrating automation and AI, Stellar PV will control key parameters such as temperature, pulling rate, and rotation speed in real time,&#8221; the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/feed\/update\/urn:li:activity:7364083914304344065\/\">recently stated<\/a>. &#8220;This enhances process stability, reduces defects, and improves overall yield. The result is high-purity, uniform ingots that enable the production of premium solar wafers, forming the foundation for high-performance solar cells.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>How Much Money Did Stellar Get?<\/h2>\n<p>Early this month, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) awarded Stellar PV $4.7 million to support a feasibility study related to the facility. The grant was part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australian-solar-research-mb2283\/\">$45.5 million announced by ARENA<\/a> under the Albanese Government&#8217;s $1 billion Solar Sunshot program, which seeks to support local solar PV manufacturing industry.<\/p>\n<h2>Not New Kids On The Block<\/h2>\n<p>While a very young company (established in 2023), Stellar PV is led by an industry veteran.<\/p>\n<p>Ted Szpitalak (pictured above) was a founding member of the Australian research team that developed PERC<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/#en-94133-1' id='enref-94133-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(94133)'>1<\/a><\/sup> solar cell technology in the 1980&#8217;s, which many years later became dominant<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/#en-94133-2' id='enref-94133-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(94133)'>2<\/a><\/sup>. The team was led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/australian-solar-research-mb2283\/\">Professor Martin Green<\/a>, who is sometimes referred to as the &#8220;father of photovoltaics&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Szpitalak also worked at the Solar Energy Research centre (UNSW?) in the 1980s and 1990s and joined Samuel Yang and Dr Zhengrong &#8216;Sun-King&#8217; Shi to establish the first major solar manufacturer in China &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/panels\/suntech-review.html\">Suntech<\/a>. Szpitalak and Yang then went on to help establish another Chinese solar panel manufacturer, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/panels\/ja-solar-review.html\">JA Solar<\/a>. And the grass hasn&#8217;t been growing under his feet since.<\/p>\n<h2>Where Will The Polysilicon Come From?<\/h2>\n<p>To make ingot and wafers, high quality polysilicon is needed, which is sourced from quartz \u2014 something Australia has plenty of. But there are no solar polysilicon production facilities in Australia yet.<\/p>\n<p>That could soon change \u2014 the ARENA funding announcements also included $5 million for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solquartz.com.au\/\"> Solquartz<\/a> to investigate setting up a low-emissions polysilicon plant (also at Lansdown), and $1.3 million to <a href=\"https:\/\/energus.com.au\/solar-polysilicon-feasibility-study-hunter-hub\/\"> Energus<\/a> to investigate low-emissions polysilicon production at AGL\u2019s Hunter Energy Hub in New South Wales.<\/p>\n<p>So, there&#8217;s perhaps potential for Stellar PV to be using Australian polysilicon from the get-go, but there would be many moving parts involved in getting that happening.<\/p>\n<p>That leaves solar cell manufacturing, and there&#8217;s already a firm well under-way on that side of things: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/sundrive-trina-sunshot-mb3029\/\">Sundrive<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>A Fully Australian-Made Solar Panel Soon?<\/h2>\n<p>All the elements appear to be coming together for a truly Australian-made solar panel<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/#en-94133-3' id='enref-94133-3' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(94133)'>3<\/a><\/sup> to be possible.<\/p>\n<p>But just because you can do something, it doesn&#8217;t always mean you should, and success for the companies funded is by no means guaranteed. However, in 2022 CSIRO released its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csiro.au\/-\/media\/Mineral-Resources\/Files\/Australian-Silicon-Action-Plan\/Australian-Silicon-Action-Plan-2.pdf\">Australian Silicon Action Plan<\/a> outlining the economic and other benefits of investing in an integrated silicon and solar cell local supply chain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian firm Stellar PV recently scored government cash towards investigating the potential for a local &#8216;world-class&#8217; silicon ingot and wafer facility. Discover more about the company and its plans for creating these crucial materials for solar panel manufacturing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":94135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[678],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-battery-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Australian Solar Silicon: A Stellar Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover more about Stellar PV and its plans to produce silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells right here in Australia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australian Solar Silicon: A Stellar Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover more about Stellar PV and its plans to produce silicon ingots and wafers for solar cells right here in Australia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-26T21:02:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Bloch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Bloch\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66afd571aa00c2e442f0192ebac2f6f1\"},\"headline\":\"Australian Solar Silicon: A Stellar Project\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-26T21:02:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/\"},\"wordCount\":681,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/stellar-ingots-wafers-mb3256\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/solar-silicon-stellar.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General Solar &amp; 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