French solar PV module manufacturer Holosolis has secured €220 million (US$255.2 million) in public and private funding to support its construction of a 5GW module manufacturing facility in France.
The latest round of funding comes from French industrial firm Calés Technologie and Swiss cold forming company Forming. These investors join the Armor Group, Groupe IDEC, Heraeus, InnoEnergy and TSE in supporting the manufacturing plant, at which Holosolis expects to begin commercial operations by 2030.
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Holosolis noted that the latest round of funding would be used to finalise the design of the factory, support recruitment and “supply chain setup” and install tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) manufacturing equipment.
Building a European solar PV supply chain has been much discussed European solar circles in recent years, and Holosolis CEO Bertrand Lecacheux expressed optimism at the conclusion of the latest fundraising round.
“I am very proud that new partners are joining us! We will be able to benefit from their expertise to build the largest TOPCon cell and module gigafactory in Europe,” Lecacheux said. “Several photovoltaic developers have chosen to invest in the project and we have a total of more than 20GW of customer letters of intent, which demonstrates the strength of our business model.”
Over the summer, Lecacheux was one of several industry experts to speak on a PV Tech panel, hosted at the Intersolar Europe event in Germany, at which he discussed the importance of securing the “strategic segments” of the global solar supply chain in Europe, to reduce reliance on multi-national supply chains. Earlier this year, China’s top four solar manufacturers announced losses of over US$1.5 billion in the first half of this year, and China’s dominance of the global solar supply chain is such that hardships endured by these companies has a knock-on effect on the prices and availability of modules elsewhere in the world.
Holosolis also announced that it has now secured “all the permits” necessary to launch construction of the module factory next year in Sarreguemines-Hambach, eastern France, having secured a building permit in January of this year and signed a TOPCon patent licence agreement with leading Chinese manufacturer Trinasolar in September.
The advancement of Holosolis’ factory is a positive development for European solar as a whole, which has seen a wave of policy support for new manufacturing facilities this year. These include the launch of the International Solar Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) in March, to accelerate demand for European-made solar products, and the inclusion of support for solar PV manufacturing in the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) in May.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media will host the PV ModuleTech Europe event in Málaga, Spain on 2-3 December. Speakers will discuss trends in European solar, including changes in module technologies, changes in the existing manufacturing process, and ESG compliance. For full details and booking options click here.
