Nordcell said it is evaluating the location of the factory and hopes to make a final decision as soon as possible, and plans to start production in the first half of 2025. At full production capacity, the plant is expected to produce 2.5 million components per year.

Nordcell stressed that Europe is almost entirely dependent on imported components from China and Southeast Asia. Nordcell said that while the EU is ambitious to achieve an internal production capacity target of 40% of net-zero emission technologies by 2030, based on the current pace of new capacity additions, achieving this target is "very unlikely".

"The EU expects that about 1 billion solar modules will be installed by 2030." Vahid Toosi, co-founder of Nordcell, said: "Unless something changes, 97% of these solar modules will not be European modules."

Nordcell said its factory will be powered entirely by non-fossil fuel energy, which could give it a competitive advantage when compared with imported products that are not eligible for Europe's CBAM carbon tariffs, which will take effect in 2026.

Jochen Rentsch, Head of Photovoltaic Technology Transfer at Fraunhofer ISE, added: "We have been working with Nordcell from the beginning to initiate an early life cycle assessment to analyze the environmental impact of production. It is clear that Sweden has a significant role in reducing the carbon footprint of photovoltaic production. global advantages."

Nordcell also said its factories will emphasize "scale, AI-driven automation and state-of-the-art quality."

Peter Fath, board member of the European Solar Manufacturing Council and spokesman for German solar machinery manufacturers, the German Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Federation, added: “Nordcell is fundamentally rethinking the standard production blueprint and combining next-generation automation with the world’s most advanced production equipment. Combined. In this way, Nordcell can produce best-in-class solar modules at a competitive cost."

The realization of Nordcell's plan will provide a welcome boost to Europe's troubled photovoltaic manufacturing industry, which has been warning of imminent collapse in the face of competition from abroad, especially China.

The European Commission has been under pressure to take measures to ease the industry and earlier this month agreed in principle to provide support to the industry without revealing further details.trina solar panels