Spain targets wafer production

<p>Spain-based Sunwafe is planning a 20 GW ingot and wafer factory. The project is progressing quickly, with a site secured in northern Spain and a €200 million ($232.6 million) grant, newly appointed CEO Michael Pinto tells pv magazine.</p>

<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><em>Could you give us a little background on the factory and what’s planned?</em></h3>

<p>We’re aiming at a capacity to manufacture 2.5 billion wafers per year, sufficient to serve around 20&nbsp;GW of cell manufacturing. And we’re looking to start commercial operations in the first half of 2029.</p>

<p>The project has its roots in InnoEnergy, a leading European investor in early-stage startups that also builds new industrial companies to address market gaps in key sectors. Sunwafe is the product of those efforts over the last couple of years, and they’ve achieved a number of important milestones, even before I joined earlier this year.</p>

<p>Most important of these is that they’ve secured a €200 million grant from the Spanish government. On top of that, they have secured the rights for a 300,000 square meter site in an industrial zone in Asturias, in northern Spain.</p>

<p>Do you expect to supply cell manufacturers in Europe, or are you more focused on export to other regions?</p>

<p>In Europe you have something like half a dozen solar cell manufacturing projects underway, some more advanced than others. It’s a no-brainer for Europe to reclaim its position in solar, and in that respect, yes, Europe will be one of our key markets. At the same time, Sunwafe will also position itself to serve growing demand in North America, including both the United States and Canada.</p>

<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><em>When it comes to cost, how do you expect to compare with suppliers in Asia that are currently serving European demand?</em></h3>

<p>We’re in a bit of an anomaly period right now in terms of price. The overcapacity situation is pinching hard, and that’s reflected in unusually low pricing, which is what typically happens before a period of consolidation.</p>

<p>In a couple of years, our expectation is that prices for wafers will rebound towards the vicinity of 30 cents per piece. Really what you’re asking is: where are European and US cell manufacturers going to be positioned when the dust settles? And that will largely be a reflection of where energy markets, policies and regulatory frameworks take us.</p>

<p>There’s tremendous effort in the US, Canada, EU, Turkey, and India on policy programs aiming to bring PV manufacturing into each of these regions. That’s going to usher in a period of sovereignty premiums.</p>

<p>My expectation is that there’s still going to be a baseline price for wafers set by what we see in China. However, local policies and regulatory frameworks will, for a certain time, play a role in bridging the gap.</p>

<p>In a way, the train has already left the station and global supply chains are actively reconfiguring to become more regionally distributed. The quest for energy security and economic resilience are key drivers in this trend, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.</p>

<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><em>Looking at Europe in particular, do you see those policies and mechanisms falling into place already?</em></h3>

<p>These are a work-in-progress. Our commercial operations date is in 2029. That leaves a window for policy to evolve. Then it becomes more of a philosophical conversation, as to whether Europe has the strength and stamina to compete globally. Economies of scale are built by aggregating demand and supply, so it’s important that Europe acts as one. You don’t get to competitive unitary costs by having a “Spain only” or an “Italy first” conversation.</p>

<p>But let’s not be confused. This is a heavy lift. And a shout-out needs to be made to the Spanish government for the ambition that it’s put on the table. A €200 million grant is something to be proud about as a European. This is the kind of capital that must be put forward by Europe for strategic sectors like energy.</p>

<p>The next challenge, I guess, is energy supply. Spain has seen some impressively low costs for grid supply – do you expect to rely on that, or do you have other agreements in place?</p>

<p>Our strategy here hangs on two things. First, a properly designed PPA that serves us with both the lowest possible cost of energy and certificates of origin for renewable energy. Secondly, on-site generation and storage. It’s going to be a combination of both.</p>

<p>It’s also worth noting that by the time 2029 rolls around, we’ll have seen a couple of fiscal years of implementation of flexibility markets in Spain. I think that Sunwafe will be able to play on those, implementing demand response and those types of benefits which will further add to an efficient energy strategy.</p>

<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><em>The other key input for an ingot/wafer factory is polysilicon. What kind of conversations are you having there?</em></h3>

<p>The polysilicon landscape today is very asymmetrical. My understanding is that total capacity among a dozen or so Chinese players seems to be settling at about 3.5 million tonnes a year. If we look at non-Chinese suppliers, there’s four or five notable names in that basket, and I understand that these add up to roughly 300,000 tonnes a year.</p>

<p>As we think about building resiliency into the market, Sunwafe will want to be strategic and source from more than one supplier or region. There’s a lot happening in the non-Chinese polysilicon landscape right now, and we’re going to be seeing larger numbers by the first half of 2029. I’ll be looking to construct win-win agreements with probably a couple of players to ensure a good balance.</p>

<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><em>On the technology side, do you expect to work with Chinese suppliers for ingot pulling, wafer sawing and other equipment?</em></h3>

<p>The level of expertise developed in China is not something you can just walk straight by. We need some element of pragmatism and humility. There are players in Europe who have the technical depth to support Sunwafe, but it would be a little short-sighted to imagine a world in which we have no collaborative relations with key Chinese partners, and that doesn’t necessarily dilute the Europeanness of the company.</p>

<p>In the wafer segment you have well-established technologies like n-type ingot pulling and diamond wire sawing. Is there anything new there that’s worth mentioning?</p>

<p>There’s a lot that’s happened in the last couple of years on the technology front.</p>

<p>There’s a window of opportunity here to capitalize on recent advances in everything from industry 5.0, to robotics, and AI. Things are moving fast. There’s no doubt that there are optimizations and process efficiencies that are going to present paradigm shifts in the next few years, and we’ve got our eyes set on a few which I can’t disclose right now.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/07/13/spain-targets-wafer-production/">Spain targets wafer production</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.pv-magazine.com">pv magazine Global</a>.</p>