CARBON’s key announcements at Choose France
CARBON was invited for the second consecutive year to the Choose France summit, the must-attend event for international industrialists and investors. On this occasion, Pierre-Emmanuel Martin and Nicolas Chandellier, respectively President and CEO of CARBON, were able to testify to the realization of the integrated gigafactory project, detail CARBON’s industrial strategy, and announce the launch of CARBON one: a first production unit of 500 MWc which will come to fruition in autumn 2025.
A project making great strides
The gigafactory project – with a budget of €1.7 billion over 4 years – is becoming more concrete every day, notably with the recent submission of the building permit application for the gigafactory in Fos-sur-Mer. Choose France was thus an opportunity to recall that CARBON is pursuing its ambition, honoring its commitments, and making great strides towards the construction of the largest European gigafactory for the production of wafers, cells, and photovoltaic modules. Each year, this gigafactory will produce 5 GWc of photovoltaic cells, equivalent to 10 million photovoltaic panels. With commissioning scheduled for late 2026, followed by industrial ramp-up in 2027, the activities of the gigafactory will ultimately create around 3000 direct and sustainable jobs.
A competitive and sovereign industrial strategy
The summit also allowed detailing CARBON’s industrial strategy. For the solar industry, this is the only project that will guarantee competitiveness, sustainability, and sovereignty, notably through:
- Scaling up (5 GWc/year production capacity, equivalent to +10 million PV panels/year),
- Vertical integration (3-in-1 industrial site: ingot & wafer / cell / module),
- Innovation (3% of annual revenue dedicated to R&D),
- Industrial optimization (Industry 5.0).
The launch of CARBON one
Pierre-Emmanuel Martin and Nicolas Chandellier also announced during the summit the launch of CARBON one: a first production unit of 500 MWc which will come to fruition in autumn 2025. The result: 1 million photovoltaic panels produced each year and 200 direct and sustainable jobs. One year before the commissioning of the gigafactory in Fos-sur-Mer (late 2026), CARBON one will be a true industrial and commercial accelerator for the CARBON project.