From pv magazine France
French PV module manufacturer HoloSolis announced that Cales Technologies and Forming AG are now two new investors in its project to build a 5 GW cell and module manufacturing facility in Hambach, near Sarreguemines, in northwestern France.
Cales Technology is a French family-owned holding company specializing in turnkey engineering for industrial and energy projects. Forming AG is a Swiss family-owned industrial group founded in 1964, specializing in cold forming and the design of structures for solar power plants, with operations in Switzerland, India, Mexico, and the United States. “Its expertise, covering the entire value chain, makes it a natural partner for HoloSolis,” the group says.
With this new funding, HoloSolis—whose existing investors include InnoEnergy, TSE, the IDEC Group, Armor Group, and Heraeus—says it has secured the first phase of its financing plan, which now exceeds €220 million.
The strategy combines private capital, support for French industrial investment, and sovereign industrial-policy instruments: €5 million in private investment raised during the July 2023 fundraising round; €4 million in aid from the Grand Est Region; €1.75 million in additional private investment with the arrival of new partners (Verspieren, Technique Solaire, Photosol, CVE, WeWise, and Tenergie); €10.4 million in aid from Bpifrance as part of the “First Factory” call for projects; the approval of the Green Industry Tax Credit, amounting to an unprecedented €189 million.
In September, the company established a strategic collaboration last September with the Chinese manufacturer Trina Solar. The partnership gives HoloSolis access to Trina Solar’s TOPCon patent portfolio, enabling the creation of a European production line based on this technology and reducing industrial risk at launch.
The group also reports a strong commercial pipeline. “Several photovoltaic developers have chosen to invest in the project, and we have over 20 GW of customer letters of intent, which demonstrates the robustness of our business model,” says Bertrand Lecacheux, CEO of HoloSolis. At full capacity, the site is expected to create 2,000 direct jobs.
A second funding round is planned for 2026, coinciding with the start of construction. The gigafactory aims to begin production in 2027, with a gradual ramp-up to 5 GW per year by 2030, representing nearly 10 million panels.
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