The EuroCZFactory project has officially been launched with the aim of addressing a critical gap in Europe’s solar energy manufacturing value chain. Supported by the European Union, the initiative seeks to reduce the continent’s dependence on imports by expanding silicon ingot and solar cell production capacity. The project aims to establish at least three new crystal growth facilities by 2031 and reach an annual production capacity of more than 5 GWp by the mid-2030s. Coordinated by Norway-based SINTEF, the 16-member consortium, which includes Türkiye’s Kalyon PV, will focus on advancing production processes based on the Czochralski method over the next 42 months.
Although solar installations continue to expand rapidly across Europe, the continent still has limited capacity for ingot and solar cell production, which form the early stages of the value chain. EuroCZFactory aims to address this gap by strengthening Europe’s industrial expertise and developing a stronger domestic manufacturing ecosystem. The project will focus on technical objectives including the processing of silicon crystals, the integration of digital tools into manufacturing processes, and pilot operations using full-scale equipment.
The project officially began with a kickoff meeting in Norway and brings together major industry stakeholders, including Fraunhofer institutes from Germany, CEA from France, equipment manufacturer RENA Technologies, and Kalyon PV from Türkiye. The partners established the project’s technical work areas and management structure while discussing strategic steps to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness in solar manufacturing.
Industry representatives emphasize that ingot and solar cell production are fundamental building blocks of the solar energy value chain. Developing a strong industrial infrastructure in these areas is expected to support solar cell and module manufacturing across Europe. Although efforts to rebuild Europe’s solar manufacturing base have been on the agenda for years, large-scale successes have remained limited. Experts point out that Europe could gain a competitive advantage in areas such as innovation, complex cell-processing technologies, and advanced solar cell manufacturing.
Source: Solarbaba – In Turkish
