SUNWAFE SL takes the lion’s share of Spain’s €297.3 million funding round
Out of 34 provisionally selected projects for domestic renewable energy manufacturing, 7 relate to solar
The funding is aligned with the European Union’s response to geopolitical challenges, says MITECO
SUNWAFE SL, a solar ingot and wafer production company from Barcelona, is among the provisional winners of a funding call held by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).
Out of the €297.3 million preliminary allocation under the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (PERTE) funding call organized by the Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (IDEA), SUNWAFE has been allocated €199.9 million. MITECO noted that both these components are essential in the production of solar panels.
According to SUNWAFE’s website, it plans to achieve 20 GW or 2,500 million wafer production capacity at its factory in Spain by 2030. The company is backed by EIT InnoEnergy, which has now rebranded itself as InnoEnergy.
All 34 provisional winners of MITECO’s funding are companies and projects that support the domestic production of renewable energy equipment in the country. A majority relate to the manufacture and assembly of electrolyzers and other components for green hydrogen production. For energy storage, MITECO has selected 4 projects, and a single project related to heat pumps.
Apart from SUNWAFE, there are 6 other solar-related projects. Among these are solar module producer European Solar Cell Company, S.L. and MCPV Manufacturing Spain. MCPV separately announced its selection in the Spanish call for the construction of its module factory in Spain. Notably, MCPV, the PV manufacturing spin-off of Resilient Group, is developing a 4 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar cell factory in the Netherlands (see Netherlands Backs 4 GW HJT Solar Cell Factory With €4.2 Million).
All of these provisionally selected projects are spread accross 12 autonomous communities.
“This aid program has benefited from a simplified notification process with the European Commission as it falls within the crisis and transition timeframe for State aid, as part of the EU's response to Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the new geopolitical context surrounding the energy transition,” stated MITECO.