Fraunhofer ISE helping Holosolis to build Europe’s largest solar factory

Fraunhofer ISE is helping Holosolis to build Europe’s largest PV factory – a 5 GW solar plant in France – by 2025. The German research institute is providing support in technology selection and factory planning.

September 1, 2023 Sandra Enkhardt

Image: Dirk Mahler

From pv magazine Germany

Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy (ISE) said it will support French startup Holosolis, a spinoff of EIT InnoEnergy, in building a module manufacturing facility in Hambach, near Sarreguemines, in northwestern France.

The site is at a now-abandoned factory project by REC. The Norwegian solar module manufacturer originally planned to build a 4 GW heterojunction panel factory there.

“HoloSolis’ approach of building a PV production line from solar cells to PV modules while further developing the technology convinced us from the beginning,” said Jochen Rentsch, head of technology transfer in the photovoltaics division at Fraunhofer ISE. “We are very happy to be able to accompany the young company on its way to become a major European-based producer of PV components.”

Three European players – EIT Innoenergy, French IDEC Group, and TSE – founded Holosolis. EIT Innoenergy is an EU co-financed cleantech investor based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. IDEC Group is a significant local real estate player in France, while TSE is a key producer of solar energy in France and a leader in agrivoltaics.

Holosolis stands as a flagship initiative under the European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA), which aims to establish a European production capacity of 30 GW annually by 2025.

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