Quinbrook plans billion-dollar polysilicon plant in Queensland

Investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has secured land in North Queensland, Australia, for what it says will be one the world’s largest polysilicon factories, to be powered with green energy.

After a competitive tender, the company has been conditionally allocated a 200-hectare site within the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct, which the City of Townsville is developing into an environmentally sustainable technology hub. The allotment was announced by the Townsville City Council on Tuesday.

Under the plan, Quinbrook intends to build a state-of-the-art polysilicon manufacturing facility that will source silica quartz from the Townsville region and process it to make polysilicon wafers for use in solar panels and batteries. The production base will be supplied with electricity from a large-scale solar and battery storage complex set to be installed on land near Lansdown. The specific site for the “multi-billion-dollar project” was picked due to the abundant critical minerals resources, high solar irradiation and available port infrastructure in the region.

“Once the right operating partner is chosen by the company, the project can move forward at a rapid pace, subject to the normal government approvals,” said Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill.

More than 1,000 jobs are expected to be created in the construction and operation phase of the project.