French panel manufacturer Carbon said it will build a new R&D center in Istres, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in southern France. The location is not far from the planned module factory in Fos-sur-Mer.
From 2027, the laboratory will include technical platforms and operational equipment to enable production scale-up. The site will also house a ‘solar campus’ as well as a documentation and training centre.
The building contains several vacant commercial buildings that will be renovated. The project, with an investment of at least €33 million ($35.4 million) in different phases, benefits from support from the French government through the France 2030 program. Carbon said it will create 200 jobs in the metropolitan area, in addition to 3,000 at its gigafactory in Fos-sur-Mer.
Carbon said it plans to spend 3% of its revenue on R&D. It aims to position itself primarily in the marketing of tunnel oxide passivated contact cells and modules (TOPCon), while also developing TOPCon back-contact (TBC) cell technology, as well as disruptive technologies such as perovskites.
In May, Carbon unveiled plans to start pilot production at the vertically integrated TOPCon and IBC solar module factory in Fos-sur-Mer in autumn 2025. The factory will operate a 500 MW pilot production line for TOPCon panels. The company said it will initially produce the modules using cells sourced from Europe or other continents.
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The company said the plant will have an annual production capacity of 5 GW of ingots and cells and 3.5 GW of module capacity.
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