REC Photo voltaic has introduced plans for a PV module gigafactory in France, together with 17 different clear tech tasks that may share €1.8 billion ($1.8 billion) of grants from the European Union’s Innovation Fund.
REC Photo voltaic has secured an unspecified grant from the European Union to construct a 2 GW heterojunction (HJT) module manufacturing facility in France. The Rise venture, backed by REC’s Singapore and French divisions and the French authorities, is one in all 17 clear tech plans that may share €1.8 billion ($1.8 billion) of European public cash by way of the EU Innovation Fund.
REC Photo voltaic, which was acquired by Indian power firm Reliance Industries final yr, has beforehand claimed the two GW per yr of HJT modules to be made within the fab will boast a conversion effectivity of greater than 22.5%, rising to 26% by 2030. Particulars of the grant software for EU funding acknowledged that the panels would have 90% bifaciality, function G12 wafers, and be suitable with future HJT-perovskite tandem expertise.
The modules can generate electrical energy 5% to 10% cheaper than present mainstream mono Perc expertise and will likely be made in a renewables-powered manufacturing facility utilizing thinner silicon and wafers, in keeping with REC. The merchandise can even function recycled silicon sludge materials created throughout wafer slicing, referred to as kerf.
The grant determination didn’t specify the place in France the gigafactory will likely be constructed and the EU announcement of the awards, made this week, didn’t specify how a lot particular person candidates had secured. The Rise venture, supported by the French authorities’s nuclear and various power division – the Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Options – can anticipate funding to be paid after tasks nail down their grant particulars within the closing three months of the yr.
The Innovation Fund is financed by revenue from the EU’s emissions buying and selling system for industrial carbon allowances. Awards had been additionally made to battery storage tasks in France and Poland.
Swedish battery firm Northvolt gained backing for manufacturing strains for its Voltainer product, to be manufactured in Gdansk and Tczew, in Poland.
The Voltainer will include the next nickel content material in its nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC) chemistry and will likely be 16.9% to 18.8% cheaper per kilowatt-hour of storage capability than present short-term storage units, in keeping with Northvolt.
The battery firm mentioned greater than 90% “of the worth of” the product’s parts and gear would come from the “European provide chain,” with the corporate’s Stockholm amenities additionally concerned. Again in France, miner and metallurgical enterprise Eramat SA has secured EU assist for what it described as a “first-of-the-kind black mass recycling unit” at a battery cluster at Dunkirk.
The proposed plant would be capable of recuperate the black mass uncooked materials – a powder comprised of crushing the electrode-containing elements of lifeless batteries – from 50,000 tons of scrap per yr, in keeping with Eramat.
Saying the awards from the Innovation Fund’s second name for tasks, the EU mentioned “as much as 20” different tasks not but mature sufficient to qualify for grants could be pre-selected for assist from EU lender the European Funding Financial institution with growing their plans.
Initiatives which utilized unsuccessfully for grants in the latest name can reapply, with a €3 billion or so third name for tasks due within the “autumn,” the EU added.
