A new EU-funded project has launched, aimed at strengthening Europe’s capabilities in silicon ingot and wafer manufacturing.
The so-called EuroCZFactory project is targeting what its backers said was a key gap in Europe’s solar manufacturing capacity.
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Trade body Solar Power Europe, which is coordinating the Horizon Europe-funded project, noted that although Europe continues to expand solar deployment, it currently has limited production capacity in this part of the value chain.
“By working on this early stage of solar manufacturing, EuroCZFactory aims to build European expertise and know-how, help reduce the manufacturing gap and contribute to future industrial initiatives in Europe,” SPE said in a statement.
Over the next 42 months, SPE said the consortium would develop the technologies and processes needed to support European ingot and wafer production using the Czochralski method. Objectives will include improving the growth and processing of silicon crystals into wafers, integrating digital tools into manufacturing processes, and demonstrating the technology through pilot operations using full-scale equipment.
The project kicked off late last month with a launch event in Norway hosted by Norwegian research organisation SINTEF and attended by 16 partners drawn from Europe’s solar PV manufacturing, research and innovation sectors.
At the kick-off meeting, the partners discussed the project’s main technical work areas, governance structure and coordination framework, SPE said. They also highlighted the importance of connecting EuroCZFactory with broader European initiatives to strengthen the PV manufacturing ecosystem.
Rebuilding Europe’s PV manufacturing base has been a long-held goal in industry and policy circles, but success in establishing anything on a meaningful scale has so far been limited.
A ‘Made in Europe’ panel discussion at Intersolar in Munich last month heard that although a “disruption” in European PV manufacturing was unlikely, opportunities around innovation, where Europe has a strong pedigree, were more realistic. Areas such as equipment manufacturing, complex cell processing and advanced solar cell technologies were among those mentioned as offering Europe the greatest scope to secure its competitive edge in PV manufacturing.
