After obtaining a patent license from Trina Solar, the company plans to build a module factory in France.

French solar Photovoltaic Module manufacturer Holosolis has secured €220 million (approximately $255.2 million) in public and private funding to support the construction of a 5GW module manufacturing plant in France.

The latest round of financing came from French industrial company Calés Technologie and Swiss cold forming company Forming. These investors, along with Armor Group, Groupe IDEC, Heraeus, InnoEnergy, and TSE, are backing the manufacturing plant, which Holosolis expects to begin commercial operations in 2030.

Holosolis stated that the latest funding will be used to finalize the plant design, support recruitment and the "supply chain architecture," and install TOPCon manufacturing equipment.

Discussions about building a European solar photovoltaic supply chain have been frequent in recent years, and Holosolis CEO Bertrand Lecacheux expressed optimism at the close of this latest funding round.

"I am very proud to have new partners join us! We will be able to leverage their expertise to build Europe's largest TOPCon cell and module gigafactory," said Lecacheux. “Several photovoltaic developers have already chosen to invest in this project, and we have over 20GW of customer letters of intent, which fully demonstrates the strength of our business model.” During the summer, Lecacheux, as one of several industry experts, participated in the symposium at Intersolar Europe in Germany, where he discussed the importance of securing Europe’s “strategic link” in the global solar supply chain to reduce dependence on transnational supply chains.

Earlier this year, China’s four major solar manufacturers announced losses exceeding $1.5 billion in the first half of the year. China’s dominant position in the global solar supply chain has meant that the difficulties these companies are experiencing have had a ripple effect on module prices and supply in other parts of the world.

Holosolis also announced that it has obtained “all the necessary permits” and will begin construction of its module factory in Saregminne-Hambach, eastern France, next year. This follows their obtaining construction permits in January and signing a TOPCon patent licensing agreement with leading Chinese manufacturer Trina Solar in September.

The progress of the Holosolis factory is a positive development for the entire European solar industry, which has seen a wave of policy support for new manufacturing facilities this year. This includes the International Solar Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI), launched in March, which aims to accelerate market demand for European-made solar products, and support for solar photovoltaic manufacturing in the EU Net Zero Industries Act (NZIA) in May.