Its a nice Christmas present for 2017.
Staff file photo by John Rawlston / The $2.5 billion Wacker plant makes polysilicon for solar power panels. An adjacent $150 million second factory by the German company will produce pyrogenic silica used in coatings, printing inks and adhesives.Bradley County manufacturer Wacker, which earlier this year opened a $2.5 billion polysilicon plant, on Wednesday committed to building another factory next door.
The German company will invest $150 million in the new plant that will turn a byproduct of its polysilicon factory into pyrogenic silica, a viscosity-adjusting agent in coatings, printing inks and adhesives, officials said.
The company plans to hire 50 more people, joining the 650 who work at its Charleston polysilicon plant. Wacker officials said construction on the second factory will start early in 2017 with completion in the first half of 2019.
“It’s a nice Christmas present for 2017,” said Gary Farlow, who heads the Cleveland-Bradley Chamber of Commerce.