The Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITECO) has awarded more than €210 million (US$227.21 million) in funding to seven solar PV manufacturing projects.
The provisional results for the RENOVAL programme were released last week by The Institute for Diversification and Energy Saving (IDAE in Spanish) which is in charge of the programme.
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The funds will be provided through Spain’s recovery and resilience plan (PRTR) under NextGenEU, which aims to incentivise the production of equipment and components for solar panels, batteries and electrolysers, among other technologies.
In total, nearly €300 million has been allocated to 34 projects for renewables manufacturing. One of the seven solar PV manufacturing projects received two-thirds of all the funding.
Solar ingot and wafer manufacturer startup Sunwafe has been allocated nearly €200 million for the construction of a PV manufacturing plant in the northern region of Asturias. According to the company’s website, it aims to build a wafer manufacturing plant with a 20GW annual nameplate capacity by 2030. However, projects that have been awarded in the RENOVAL programme are expected to be completed in four years.
PV Tech reached out to Sunwafe for comments regarding its awarded manufacturing project.
Other upstream PV manufacturing projects awarded capacity include Dutch solar cell manufacturer MCPV and Spanish module manufacturer European Solar Cell Company (Escelco).
In the case of the Dutch company, a consortium member of Dutch solar industrialisation and technology platform Dutch SolarNL, it has been awarded with nearly €10 million for the construction of a module assembly plant in Navarra, northern Spain.
The company targets to reach up to 2.5GW of annual nameplate of HJT modules in its Spanish plant. According to a spokesperson at MCPV, permitting is already underway, with construction targeted to begin in 2028, while the first production of modules is estimated in early 2029.
Modules produced in Spain will initially target the utility-scale sector, and then followed by the commercial and industrial (C&I) one, said Marc Rechter, CEO at MCPV, to PV Tech.
“MCPV is aiming to work in support of strengthening the European value chain, looking to work mainly with European suppliers across equipment and BOM. The strong implementation of European framework rules will be one of the key components enabling a truly European industry,” added Rechter.
The solar cells are expected to be provided by the 4GW heterojunction solar cell plant it is building in northern Netherlands. In October 2024, this project secured €4.2 million towards the development of its cell manufacturing plant, with commercial production targeted to begin in late 2027.
“The MCPV team looks forward to next steps in Navarra as we continue our efforts to establish competitive, Made-in-Europe, GW-scale PV manufacturing in Europe,” wrote the company in a LinkedIn statement.
Moreover, Escelco’s case is different from the other two as its application is for expanding its operational capacity. Located in León, the project will receive a €1.3 million funding to expand its existing capacity, however no details have been disclosed concerning which part of the supply chain – solar cells and/or modules – will be affected by this expansion.
PV Tech contacted Escelco for further information and comments regarding their respective projects.
The full list of awardees can be accessed here (in Spanish).
Updated on 01 April 2025 to include comments and information from MCPV.
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