A solar panel factory project with 1.500 jobs "suspended" in Moselle

"The project is currently on hold, we need to gather more support and need better market conditions to make it happen," a Rec Solar representative told AFP.

“We are looking for aid from the European Union and the French government, mainly financial aid,” he continued. “We let them know that in the current conditions, with the evolution of prices, the energy crisis, it is difficult to get things done,” he added.

During a hearing on November 23 before the Committee on Sustainable Development and Regional Planning, the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Panier-Runacher, cited Rec Solar among the companies "in the photovoltaic sector" supported by the government but "which unfortunately did not come to fruition, due to insufficient industrial capacity or production volume".

The Sarreguemines Confluences agglomeration community, where Rec Solar was to set up, “takes note of this formalization of the abandonment of this project”, indicated in a press release its president, Roland Roth.

The agglomeration "is not however totally surprised by this announcement because since the change of shareholder of the REC group which took place in the fall of 2021", during its passage in the bosom of the Indian Reliance, "it appeared that the case (...) was not progressing as it should have been," he added.

The project had obtained the green light from the prefecture in December 2021, and the building permit had been granted, according to Les Echos. He was also among 17 winners, selected in July, sharing 1,8 billion euros from the European Commission's "Innovation Fund".

Initially, Rec Solar's ambition was to produce 4,5 million panels per year, then to reach 9 million panels annually in 2025, with 2.500 employees.

The plant was also to have a research and development center, around an innovative manufacturing technology, the heterojunction, developed with the Commissariat for Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies.

Norway-headquartered Rec Solar was acquired in October 2021 by Indian conglomerate Reliance for $771 million (around €666 million at the time of the deal). The company previously belonged to the Chinese group China National Bluestar.