FORT MILL, SC – Silfab is a solar manufacturer. It has a plant in Canada and one in Washington state. Silfab has said it has been well received by those communities. WCCB News@Ten host Morgan Fogarty asked Silfab’s operations manager Greg Basden, “Why do you think it was so different here?” Basden said, “There was a lot of activity going on behind the scenes in economic development as we were planning it. And then when the community found out it was Silfab, things were already in motion. And I think that worried a lot of people in the community.”
Second, the approval process is open to the public. Basden says, “And then certain people in the community saw some of the materials that we’re using. And then you start digging deeper and deeper on the internet. You can misinterpret it and draw your own conclusions. And that rubbed some people the wrong way. In their eyes, it didn’t fit in with this community.”
The Fort Mill site would be Silfab’s only facility to convert silicon wafers into solar cells. Two materials are used for this, one of which is silane gas. Basden says: “The systems that handle and transport it are sophisticated and extremely robust.”
The other material is hydrofluoric acid. Basden says: “It comes in and it’s less than 50% concentrated during transport. And then we dilute it significantly with water in our process. So it’s definitely not a problem.”
After last week’s protests and Tuesday’s potentially heated town hall meeting, the people opposing Silfab here seem to show no signs of slowing down. Fogarty asked Basden, “Is there any chance they can stop Silfab?” He replied, “Based on the feedback we’re getting internally and from our lawyers, it’s highly unlikely that what we’re trying to do, this project, will be stopped.”
Silfab representatives will not be present at City Hall on Tuesday. Representatives from state agencies will be there, including the South Carolina Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Services.
