Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners’ plans to build a polysilicon plant in Queensland to supply solar panel manufacturers have taken another step forward following the recent signing of an agreement with the local government authority.
Quinbrook-owned project company Solquartz has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Townsville City Council to advance Australia’s first integrated quartz-to-silicon manufacturing complex at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct in north Queensland.
Australian-owned Quinbrook, through Solquartz, plans to build a state-of-the-art polysilicon manufacturing facility at Lansdown, powered by large-scale solar and battery energy storage projects it is developing nearby. The manufacturing facility is planned for the Lansdown industrial hub located about 40 km south of Townsville.
The purpose-built Northern Quartz Campus will source silica quartz from the north Queensland region and process it to produce higher-value silicon products for domestic and international markets, with the potential to support downstream manufacturing including polysilicon wafers for use in solar panels, semiconductors and other advanced technologies.
Stage 1 of the project includes a 50,000 MT metallurgical silicon production facility, a biochar plant and about 550 MW of solar generation. It will also include the Supernode North battery energy storage system – a 780 MW system to be developed in stages.
