The French manufacturer has strengthened its financing plan to more than €220 million following the arrival of two new investors. The company is advancing its TOPCon giant project in Hambach, northeastern France. The company says it has completed its industrial model and secured a substantial customer portfolio.
French PV module manufacturer HoloSolis has announced that Cales Technologies and Forming AG are now two new investors in its project to build a 5 GW cell and module production facility in Hambach, near Sarreguemines, in northwestern France.
Cales Technology is a French family holding company, specialized in turn-key engineering for industrial and energy projects. Forming AG is a Swiss industrial family company, founded in 1964, specialized in cold forming and the design of structures for solar power plants, with activities in Switzerland, India, Mexico and the United States. “Its expertise, which covers the entire value chain, makes it a natural partner for HoloSolis,” the group says.
With this new financing, HoloSolis – whose existing investors are InnoEnergy, TSE, the IDEC Group, Armor Group and Heraeus – says it has secured the first phase of its financing plan, which now amounts to more than €220 million.
The strategy combines private capital, support for French industrial investments and sovereign industrial policy instruments: €5 million in private investments raised during the July 2023 fundraising round; €4 million in aid from the Grand Est region; €1.75 million in additional private investments through the arrival of new partners (Verpijn, Technique Solaire, Photosol, CVE, WeWise and Tenergie); €10.4 million in support from Bpifrance as part of the “First Factory” call for projects; the approval of the green industry tax credit, worth an unprecedented €189 million.
The company entered into a strategic partnership with Chinese manufacturer Trina Solar last September. The partnership gives HoloSolis access to Trina Solar’s TOPCon patent portfolio, enabling the establishment 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 more than 20 GW of customer letters of intent, demonstrating the robustness of our business model,” said Bertrand Lecacheux, CEO of HoloSolis. At full capacity, the site is expected to create 2,000 direct jobs.
A second round of financing is planned for 2026, coinciding with the start of construction. The goal of the gigafactory is to start production in 2027, with a gradual increase to 5 GW per year by 2030, good for almost 10 million panels.
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