Pillar 01
Strategic autonomy
Reduce critical dependency on imported wafers and rebuild a sovereign European route from silicon to module.
Placeholder metrics
Horizon Europe · Proposal stage
Rebuilding Europe's solar manufacturing value chain.
EuroCZFactory strengthens Europe's capacity in silicon ingot and wafer manufacturing through advanced crystal growth, circular production, digital manufacturing and silicon recycling pathways.
- 48
- Months [target]
- 14
- Partners [tbc]
- 9
- EU countries [tbc]
Silicon
Ingot
Wafer
PV Manufacturing
Recovery
01 / 05
Silicon
High-purity polysilicon feedstock — the starting material.
Hover the nodes · live value-chain device
Fig. 01 · CZ wafer
01 — The project
A European silicon-to-wafer pipeline, rebuilt from the crystal up.
The vast majority of solar wafers consumed in Europe are produced outside the continent. EuroCZFactory addresses this strategic gap by industrialising the next generation of silicon ingot and wafer manufacturing — the foundational layer of every photovoltaic module.
The consortium develops advanced Czochralski (CZ) crystal pullers, integrates digital manufacturing across the line, and closes the material loop through silicon recycling pathways that recover wafer kerf, broken cells and end-of-life modules.
The result: a verifiable European route from sand to operational module — designed for circular production, energy efficiency and competitiveness at industrial scale.
CzochralskiMonocrystalline SiCircular productionDigital twinKerf recovery
02 — Why it matters
Three pillars of European industrial resilience in PV.
Quantitative targets will be confirmed against the RFP and the Grant Agreement.
Pillar 02
Industrial competitiveness
Restore an industrial base capable of supplying gigawatt-scale European PV deployment with verified, low-carbon wafers.
Placeholder metrics
Pillar 03
Circular manufacturing
Close material loops through kerf recovery, broken-cell reuse and end-of-life module recycling back into CZ feedstock.
Placeholder metrics
03 — Objectives
Four interlocking objectives across the silicon value chain.
O1
Advanced crystal growth equipment
Next-generation Czochralski pullers with continuous feeding, magnetic stabilisation and higher yield per cycle.
WP 1 [tbc]
O2
Circular production processes
Closed-loop water, gas and consumables, with kerf-loss recovery and reduced embodied carbon per wafer.
WP 2 [tbc]
O3
Digital manufacturing solutions
AI-supported process control, predictive quality and digital twins across ingot pulling, slicing and inspection.
WP 3 [tbc]
O4
Silicon recycling pathways
Routes to recover silicon from wafer scrap, broken cells and end-of-life modules back into CZ feedstock.
WP 4 [tbc]
04 — Value chain
Silicon → Ingot → Wafer → PV → Recovery.
A continuous, traceable loop. Each stage is digitally instrumented and connected back to the next pull of the crystal.
05 — Consortium
A European collaboration network.
Research organisations, equipment manufacturers, polysilicon producers and PV integrators working as one industrial team across the continent.Partner identities shown as placeholders until consortium is confirmed.
DEP01
Partner 01
Research · placeholder
FRP02
Partner 02
Research · placeholder
BEP03
Partner 03
Research · placeholder
NOP04
Partner 04
Industry · placeholder
ESP05
Partner 05
Industry · placeholder
DEP06
Partner 06
Equipment · placeholder
CHP07
Partner 07
Equipment · placeholder
ITP08
Partner 08
PV operator · placeholder
NLP09
Partner 09
Research · placeholder
ATP10
Partner 10
Research · placeholder
GRP11
Partner 11
Integrator · placeholder
PLP12
Partner 12
Industry · placeholder
06 — Pilots & demonstration
Four demonstration sites prove industrial readiness.
Pilot A · placeholderRegion [TBC]
Crystal growth pilot line
Continuous-feed Czochralski puller demonstrating yield, energy and stability improvements at representative throughput.
Demonstration site
Pilot B · placeholderRegion [TBC]
Digital twin & inline metrology
Closed-loop process control across ingot pulling and slicing, validated against real production data.
Demonstration site
Pilot C · placeholderRegion [TBC]
Low-carbon wafer production
Wafer line operated on low-carbon electricity with verified embodied-carbon reporting per wafer.
Demonstration site
Pilot D · placeholderRegion [TBC]
PV cell & module integration
End-to-end demonstration: European wafers integrated into operational cell and module products.
Demonstration site
07 — Results & Resources
Open knowledge for industry, research and policy.
Publications
— [tbc]Peer-reviewed papers on crystal growth, digital metrology and silicon recovery.
Open libraryDeliverables
— [tbc]Open public deliverables across all work packages, updated quarterly.
Open libraryDatasets
— [tbc]Open process datasets from pilot lines, suitable for benchmarking and modelling.
Open library08 — Public repository
Every public deliverable. Every dataset. One place.
Prototype
IDTitleTypeWPYear
D1.1Project handbook & quality planDeliverablesWP12026
D2.1Crystal growth specificationsDeliverablesWP22026
P01Continuous-feed CZ — process baselinePublicationsWP22026
DS-01Pilot line process telemetry (sample)DatasetsWP52026
R01Annual public progress report [tbc]ReportsWP12026
09 — News & Events
Latest from the project.
Event[Date TBC]
EuroCZFactory at SolarPower Summit
Joint policy session on strategic PV manufacturing in Europe.
ReadDeliverable[Date TBC]
D2.1 — Crystal growth specifications
Public deliverable published in the project repository.
ReadNews[Date TBC]
First continuous-feed CZ campaign concluded
Milestone reached at the project's lead pilot line.
Read10 — Contact
Talk to the coordinator.
For partnership enquiries, policy briefings or press — reach the coordination team directly.
- Coordinator
- [Lead organisation — TBC]
- coordination@euroczfactory.eu [placeholder]
- Address
- [Coordinator address — TBC]
- Grant Agreement
- No. [TBC] · Horizon Europe