REC Solar wins EU grant to build 2GW HJT plant in France

• Module maker REC Solar has actually been chosen by the European Union to obtain a give to support a 2GW heterojunction (HJT) solar factory in France.

Under the European Union's second Innovation Fund for large-scale projects, the EU will add to the building of REC's RISE (REC Innovation at Sarreguemines Enterprise) project, allocated for the north of France.

Successful projects under the EU plan will now begin preparing their specific give arrangements which are expected to be finalised during Q4 2022.

The summary of the project given by the EU states the manufacturing facility will mostly generate bifacial heterojunction modules, however there will certainly be additional consideration for it to create tandem-cell technologies such as HJT-perovskite cells in the future.

" We are happy to have been pre-selected for the EU grant. This is an essential acknowledgment of EU's confidence in REC's project plans. The give award is an important component of our France project financing. Our management is servicing all the other components which are required to make this project a truth," an agent for REC Solar informed PV Tech.

In overall 17 large-scale clean-tech projects have been picked by the EU to obtain part of the EUR1.8 billion (US$ 1.8 billion) financial investment alloted for the second round across different sectors consisting of environment-friendly hydrogen, energy storage and also offshore wind.

The chosen projects are located in Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden.

In the preliminary, Enel Green Power had actually received EUR600 million (US$ 601 million) to fund the advancement of its 3GW bifacial PV module plant in Catania that will be completely commissioned by July 2024.

Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, stated: "Contrasted to the initial disbursement round, the funds readily available have actually enhanced by 60%, enabling us to increase the variety of projects sustained. This is a large increase for the decarbonisation of energy-intensive sector in the European Union."

The Commission will launch in autumn the third ask for large-scale projects with funds almost doubling to EUR3 billion as it was announced in the REPowerEU strategy released previously this year.

Other than developing a new HJT facility in Europe, the REC Solar has additionally raised its production capacity in Singapore as well as stated previously this year it got on track to reach 1.2 GW of HJT module capacity.