Excellent Agoracom interview today 22 OctStart at 17:44 for a description of commissioning.
At 19:00 you will get an explaination of commercial size.
This pilot plant is exactly that and nothing more.
It will allow them to determine the exact operating parameters of the process.
They will be able to confirm what purities of product, and the associated production rates, that can be attained. How many Ns at how many tons per hour.
Their target for commercial production is 3,000 Mts a year at over 2 Ns and at an operating cost of $1,300 per Mt.
The next milestone is the first pour of liquid silicon. Bernard did not say when he expects that other than maybe 2-3 months. Only after that happens will they be able to tweek the process and nail down ( my expression ) the operating parameters.
Their target client will be high end users of high purity product. Purity means as many Ns as possible and uniform sizes following the clients desire. Bernard mentions 5 N ( 99.999% ). That would be incredible. If they can do that at $1,300/Mt. and then sell it at $7,000 we will all be very happy.
He has 2 NDAs and could have many more if he so desired.