Will Europe’s Mega Solar Manufacturing Plans Deliver On Promise?

Megascale European Solar Manufacturing Projects That Will Soon See Light of Day

In a recent move that is helping Europe’s solar manufacturing industry gather momentum in an unprecedented way, the European Commission has announced state finance for clean tech manufacturing. This is to be achieved by way of the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP) for European Union. The GDIP will speed up projects by easing up the regulatory climate. Simpler tax break models and temporary adaptation of regulations that will make way for simpler and procedures while also giving pace to approvals will be added into the Plan’s fold.

It may be recalled that last year, the European Commission had floated the EU Solar PV Industry Alliance to give a push to funding to projects. The alliance seeks to augment the solar module manufacturing capacity in Europe from close to 4.5 GW currently to the giant target it aspires for by 2025- 30 GW. It is being held that the alliance will support EU exceed 320 GW of newly installed solar capacity in two years from now.

Further, the Net Zero Industrial Act has further provided impetus to the renewable energy landscape of Europe. NZIA says that at least 40% of the technology must be produced indigenously to achieve climate and energy targets that Europe has set for 2030. This is said to be Europe’s answer to USA’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Against this enabling backdrop of announcements and policies, large-scale manufacturing capacities have been rung-in These are set to witness a bigger boom in the coming years on the continent. Here is a look at some of them-

Meyer Burger Announcement

Meyer Burger has been augmenting cell and module production in Germany on a massive scale. If reports are anything to go by, the firm produced 830,000 solar modules and 700,000 solar cells everyday.  Once it concludes its production spree, the capacity will see an increase to over 1 million solar cells per day.

Enel European Expansion 

Enel has joined hands in a financing agreement with UniCredit. This partnership, with an investment worth €560 million (US$600 million), will give an impetus to the the development of the Italian PV Gigafactory (Tango). Widely talked about, Tango is an industrial-scale manufacturing plant for PV modules at Enel Green Power firm 3Sun– which is among the largest solar panel manufacturing facility in Europe. Currently, its capacity stands at 200 MW. The expansion in Europe will be accompanied by fifteen-fold increase, taking it up to 3 GW every year. Operations will kickstart in September this year. By July next year, the new facility will start operations. Notably, 3Sun is the only facility in Europe that manufactures bifacial solar panels on massive scales in Europe.

Belinus’ Two-Phased Expansion

Producer of solar cells and batteries, Belinus has set sights on building 5 GW solar PV production capacity in Georgia and Belgium. The first phase will see a production line of 500 MW TOPCon solar panel being established. Phase I will have 500 MW TOPCon solar panel production line coming up. In the second phase, over 1 GW TBC line in the second phase will be set up.

Carbon’s French Expansion Spree

French solar technology firm Carbon will establish its first solar products gigafactory, which will boast of 5 GW yearly solar cell and 3.5 GW solar module capacity. These are slated to come online by 2025-end and will be augmented further in 2026. Carbon is looking to make 30 GW of wafers, 20 GW cells and 15 GW PV modules. This will be achieved by setting up a slew of gigafactories in Europe. In bigger aspirations, the firm is looking at 3.5 GW modules annually employing n-type technology in France.

Solitek’s Aspirations

Lithuania-based solar PV maker Solitek has announced that the firm will be now expanding its operations in South of Europe with Italy. According to reports, Solitek will have a capacity of 600 MW annually. The firm will manage funds for the new facility from different sources. Solitek will be investing about EUR 50 million towards the setting up of the module assembly plant and will also finance it via subsidies that the European Commission is currently offering for the renewable sector under multiple plans.

FuturaSun’s Gigafactory

Italy-based solar module maker FuturaSun has revealed that it is in the process of setting up on its home turf. The upcoming gigafactory will have 2 GW worth of production capacity, where high-efficiency solar modules will be manufactured. As of now, FuturaSun is operating a 1.2 GW module manufacturing fab in China. Last year, it made known its ambitions to set foot in Europe’s module production line by establishing a gigafactory in Italy.

AE Solar’s Romanian Plans

Germany-based firm AE Solar has announced that it would open a factory for solar panel manufacturing in Romania. AE Solar also mentioned that the company will see an investment coming to the tune of EUR 1 billion. In the initial phase, the AE Solar larger project will have a capacity of 2 GW. Upon completion of the full integration of production flows in Romania, the AE Solar project will reach 10 GW. The Romanian government said that this represents a third of the European demand.

Evocells-Socom JV

Belgium-based producer of solar panels Evocells and Luxembourg’s Socom have formed a joint venture called Solarcells. This partnership will pave the way for a 50 MW module fab in Luxembourg. There are plans already in strore to double up the production in three years’ time. The JV intends to manufacture 100,000 panels on an annual basis from the 50 MW fab.

Iberdrola’s Spanish Plans

Spanish energy major Iberdrola has also announced plans with PV maker Exiom Solution to build a solar module factory in Langreo, Spain. Calling the plans Europe’s first “industrial-scale” facilities, it has mentioned an initial investment of €20 million with plans to start operations by the end of 2023. That would indicate a sub GW capacity to start with.

Despite an environment that holds promise as far as catalyzing projects is concerned, some questions still remain answered, primarily on European dependence on imports in solar panel manufacturing. Access to skilled labour is another obstacle.