European Commission Offers Share of €4.8 Billion Fund to Solar Projects

The European Commission is offering 85 net-zero projects a share of €4.8 billion ($5.2 billion) in grants from the latest round of the EU Innovation Fund. Some of the projects will contribute to 3 GW of new solar manufacturing capacity.

The European Commission is investing €4.8 billion of emissions-trading revenues in net-zero projects in the latest round from the EU’s Innovation Fund.

The total represents the largest amount designated since the inception of the fund in 2020, taking the total amount of support to €12 billion to date.

Eighty-five projects from 18 EU member states, including Estonia and Slovakia for the first time, have been invited for grant preparation. These projects were chosen from a 2023 call for proposals that received 337 applications, with 283 deemed eligible and evaluated.

They include a floating solar plant in Belgium, a solar thermal plant and storage facility for the malt industry in Croatia, and a 1.5 GW heterojunction PV module factory in Spain, to be developed by Trina Solar's Trina Solar (Luxembourg) Holdings subsidiary.

A statement from the European Commission said the latest funding round will contribute to a total of 3 GW of solar manufacturing capacity.

Other projects will build manufacturing plants for heat pumps, as well as components for electrolyzers, fuel cells, energy storage technologies, and the batteries value chain. For the first time, projects of difference scales, as well as pilot projects, are included among the list. A range of sectors are represented, including energy-intensive industries, net-zero mobility including maritime and aviation and buildings.

The chosen applicants are due to sign their grant agreements in the first quarter of 2025, with completed projects due to enter into operation by 2030.

The European Commission said promising but insufficiently mature projects will receive project development assistance from the European Investment Bank.