After Gloomy Season, Sunshine for Polysilicon

Domestic producers of polysilicon – a critical ingredient for solar energy devices including power-making panels – are climbing out of a two-year price trough.

Boosting prices are favorable policy decisions designed to encourage the solar energy industry in China and increase sun power capacity in Europe as well as the United States.

The broader photovoltaic (PV) market has seen a turnaround worldwide since third quarter 2010, with sales rising in tandem with a global economic recovery. Many European countries, for example, ramped up solar panel installations in recent months after weathering a slowdown during the global financial crisis.

China's leading polysilicon producers GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd., Sichuan Chuantou Energy Co. and Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric Co. reported encouraging profits for 2010, swinging upward after year-earlier losses.