Dow Corning to establish new USD$13 million Solar Energy Exploration & Development Center?

The investment includes two new buildings, which the company said will complement its existing Business & Technology Center in Seneffe, thus increasing capabilities and capacity for research and development in Europe.
It added that one facility, a Synthesis Technology Center for the European area, will house laboratories and chemists focused on increasing the company’s innovation portfolio of silicon-based materials, and boosting research in sustainable technologies.
A second facility, a European Solar Solutions Application Center, will reportedly seek to advance the company’s technology for use in photovoltaic cells.
This investment, explained the company, expands its ability to innovate with a broad range of European customers using its silicon-based materials, while also enhancing the company’s European-based solar energy research and development capabilities.
The Walloon region has granted €7.5 million worth of subsidies to help the company with its investments.
Isabelle Durant, Member of the European Parliament for the Wallonia region, commented: “Wallonia is keen to play its role in increasing Europe’s innovation capacity and cutting carbon emissions – two of the most important common goals of the European Union. We are delighted, therefore, that Dow Corning has chosen our region for its new solar exploration center – a project that both confirms our status as a hub for innovation and creates jobs for the community in the process.”