Increase the competitiveness of the EU PV manufacturing industry

Topic description

Specific Challenge:

The EU PV manufacturing industry has faced strong foreign competition in the last years, which has led to a dramatic reduction of its production capacity. The challenge is to develop innovative manufacturing solutions, spanning the entire production chain, that substantially improve competitiveness of the EU PV manufacturing industry and help regain a part of the potentially increasing worldwide PV market, while creating more secure and sustainable supply chains for the EU PV market. This challenge is in line with the priority identified in SET-Plan for an Initiative for Global Leadership in PV^[1].

Demonstrating manufacturing innovation as well as product innovation for highly performing PV technologies (e.g. crystalline-silicon, thin-film and concentration PV). Innovative solutions will be demonstrated at pilot-line level, showing the potential to be scaled up to GW-size, high-yield-throughput and cost-effective industrial production of high-efficiency cells and modules. Possible examples range from the optimization of one or more steps in the value chain (by e.g. increased automation, laser processing, etc.) to the tailored development of production equipment, to the enhanced durability and/or recyclability of the final product, to the demonstration of production routes for cells and modules based on innovative materials and/or architectures (e.g. perovskite/crystalline-silicon tandem cells).

Proposals are expected to bring the technology from TRL 5-6 to 6-7 (please see part G of the General Annexes).

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of between EUR 10 to 13 million would allow this challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Successful projects are expected to trigger new investments in the EU PV industry, via the establishment of pilot lines which target innovative/optimised production processes and/or tailored development of equipment for mainstream power PV technologies. The proposed solutions are expected to show the potential for cost and performance competitiveness of the final product.

Clean Energy
Cross-cutting Key-Enabling Technologies (KETs)

[1]https://setis.ec.europa.eu/implementing-integrated-set-plan/no-1-renewables-ongoing-work