French PV module manufacturer Voltec Solar has secured €9.3 million ($10.1 million) from Ademe, France’s environmental agency. The company plans to use the funds to speed up the production of perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels.

“I have no doubt that it is the technology that allows access to the market,” Voltec Solar Director Lucas Weiss told pv magazine.

The French manufacturer currently operates two 250 MW production lines at its factory in Dinsheim-sur-Bruche, France.

“Each of the lines is compatible with p-type PERC or n-type TOPCon and heterojunction (HJT) technology, but we have mainly sold PERC technology until now,” Weiss said. “We are launching a new product range in spring 2024 using TOPCon cells.”

Voltec Solar is also developing four-junction (4T) perovskite-silicon technology with the Institut Photovoltaïque d’Île-de-France (IPVF), with the aim of producing 5 GW by 2030.

The facility will make modules based on IPVF's 4T tandem solar cell technology. The two entities plan to set up the first pilot production line by the end of 2023 and the first 200 MW industrial demonstrator in 2025. They will then increase the factory's capacity to 1 GW in 2027 and 5 GW by 2030.

IPVF and Voltec created a joint venture, France PV Industrie, to implement the project. The pilot line will require an investment of €15 million and the industrial demonstrator will require €50 million. The partners estimate the total investment at around €1 billion by 2030.

“To stand out and win markets, you have to bet on factors such as performance, price and durability,” Weiss said. “On the first point, perovskites, and in particular in tandem, present interesting yields.”