Will France ever see, on its own territory, the inauguration of a gigafactory capable of producing millions of solar panels annually? Or will it continue to depend heavily on Chinese imports for this technology that allows low-carbon electricity production? “France is focusing on projects to establish several plants on its territory, which could allow the production of up to 10 GW [gigawatts] of components in various strategic links of the value chain by 2035,” the government emphasized on February 13, on the occasion of the publication of its third multi-year energy program (PPE3).
Just three months later, one of these projects has already been shelved. The small company Carbon, which had been advancing it since March 2022, was placed in judicial liquidation on May 13. […]
Today one can speak of a “disaster,” according to Daniel Bour, president of Enerplan, the employers’ organization in the solar sector. After so many promises, the fall is even harder. Carbon planned, on a 45-hectare complex, to produce more than 10 million panels per year. That is an annual capacity of 5 GW, from silicon ingots to cells and modules. And all this in Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), with the prospect of “3,000 direct and lasting jobs” in one of the country’s most polluted industrial areas today.
The EU regulations in question
In June 2023, during a visit to the large port of Marseille-Fos, Emmanuel Macron wanted to see it as an example of “reindustrialization through ecology.” To facilitate its realization, a decree signed in July 2024 by Gabriel Attal, then Prime Minister, granted the project the label of “major national interest.” So much so that, already in April 2025, Carbon officially obtained the building permit and environmental authorizations.
If the project ultimately failed, it was for other reasons. Contacted by Le Monde, Pierre-Emmanuel Martin, president of the start-up and founder of Terre et Lac, an energy producer in Lyon, believes that its misadventure was mainly due to the absence, at the European Union (EU) level, of a “sufficiently clear and transparent framework for investors.”
According to the owner’s calculations, the company spent almost 21 million euros, of which less than 2 million were public funds, mainly from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region. However, ultimately, the total investment should have mobilized a much larger sum, since the figure discussed was rather… 1.7 billion euros.
On LinkedIn, the company mainly criticizes EU regulations, which it considers too weak in the face of Chinese competition. “The goal of the NZIA [Net-Zero Industry Act, which aims to relocate part of the production of clean energy technologies within the EU], adopted in June 2024, was limited to diversifying supply chains without creating a preference for European production,” it argues.
Certainly, in March the European Commission proposed another text, the Industrial Accelerator Act, particularly to promote “made in Europe.” But this text still has to be negotiated in the European Parliament.
The impact of Carbon’s failure on France
From France’s point of view, Carbon’s failure is “indicative of the difficulty in ensuring fair competition conditions for the European photovoltaic industry in the face of Asian competition,” it is explained at the Ministry of Economy, while also emphasizing that “this does not mean that achieving industrial sovereignty” in this sector is unimaginable.
The debates have also damaged the attractiveness of renewable energies and “discouraged potential investors,” believes Daniel Bour, of Enerplan. Certainly, renewable energies escaped the moratorium requested by the right and far-right in the National Assembly. But the government has nonetheless slowed the pace of solar panel installations in its PPE3 published in February, compared to the pace planned for 2025.
On another level, Carbon’s failure could provide new arguments to associations fighting against the construction of a very high voltage line (400,000 volts) between Gard and Fos-sur-Mer, a project carried out by the electricity transmission system operator, RTE.
Far from Provence, the second most advanced gigafactory project in France is still current. The company Holosolis, also created in March 2022, currently has 16 employees. It operates under the impetus of an actor based in the Netherlands and present in other European countries, EIT InnoEnergy. Its goal: to create a large plant in Hambach (Moselle), not far from Sarreguemines, but only for modules and cells. This second project aims for a 5 GW capacity, for about 2,000 jobs. The start of construction for the plant is currently scheduled for the end of 2027, while that for panel production is planned for the end of 2028. This already represents a delay of over a year compared to the initial schedule.
(Excerpt from the press review of eprcomunicazione)
