Low-carbon iron, European-made solar panels and renewable gas: three portfolio companies move a step closer to industrial scale.
On 19 October 2026, the European Commission announced the selection of 77 innovative projects in 23 countries, which could together receive €3.4 billion from the EU Innovation Fund. The projects aim to speed up the industrial deployment of decarbonisation technologies, strengthen the competitiveness of Europe’s economy and reduce its strategic dependencies. Three of them are InnoEnergy portfolio companies: GravitHy, Holosolis and Enosis.
The three companies work on very different parts of the energy transition. What they share is the move from proven technology to full-scale production in Europe. Each project now enters grant agreement preparation with the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), which the Commission expects to complete in the first quarter of 2027.
GravitHy: low-carbon iron for Europe’s steelmakers
Steel underpins Europe’s economy, and it is one of the hardest sectors to decarbonise. Most of the carbon comes from making iron, and Europe still relies heavily on imported iron feedstocks and fossil energy to do it.
GravitHy is developing a plant in Fos-sur-Mer, France, that will use hydrogen to produce direct reduced iron (H2-DRI), also delivered as hot briquetted iron (HBI). Planned capacity is 2 million tonnes a year. Compared with conventional ironmaking, the project is expected to avoid more than 3 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually.
The project was selected in the call’s large-scale category for general decarbonisation. It has already been designated a Project of Major National Interest by the French government. Recent milestones include permit applications, the choice of Danieli as technology provider for the direct reduction plant, and an EPC contract for a 1.15 GW electrical substation. The grant strengthens GravitHy’s financing as it works towards its Final Investment Decision.
“At a time when Europe remains largely dependent on imported iron feedstocks and fossil energies, developing a competitive production on European soil is essential for both industrial sovereignty and long-term competitiveness.” José Noldin, CEO of GravitHy
Holosolis: a 5 GW solar factory in eastern France
Solar power is now one of Europe’s cheapest sources of new electricity. Yet the vast majority of the cells and modules installed on the continent are imported.
Holosolis was selected for Solar4EU, its project to build an integrated photovoltaic cell and module factory in Hambach, Moselle, with a capacity of 5 GW. Production is planned to start in 2027 and ramp up to full capacity by 2030.
The project has already secured more than €220 million in initial financing, including €200 million under France’s green industry investment tax credit (C3IV). Trina Solar has joined as a strategic technology partner, bringing large-scale manufacturing know-how to a European-led project.
Enosis: turning biogenic CO₂ into renewable gas
Biomethane plants already produce renewable gas from agricultural and organic waste. They also release biogenic CO₂, which today is largely left unused.
Enosis develops biological systems that combine this CO₂ with renewable hydrogen to produce e-methane. Its CouplHyNG project in France will produce both biomethane and e-methane on the same site. According to Enosis, this approach can raise a biomethane site’s energy output by 70%, or even double it.
CouplHyNG was selected in the call’s small-scale category. It was one of three e-methane projects chosen this round, alongside two in Denmark, a sign that renewable methane is gaining recognition as part of Europe’s net-zero toolkit. The individual grant amount has not yet been disclosed.
Why it matters: clean tech goes industrial
Clean tech is no longer experimental. The challenge now is building first-of-a-kind plants at competitive scale, and that takes industrial expertise, secure supply chains and patient capital.
This is where public finance makes the difference. An Innovation Fund grant does not build a factory on its own. It reduces the risk of a first project enough to bring private investors and industrial partners on board. For GravitHy, Holosolis and Enosis, the selection is a signal to the market that their projects are mature, credible and strategically important for Europe.
Together, the three projects cover a steel input, a power technology and a renewable fuel. Each one reduces Europe’s dependence on imports, whether of iron, solar modules or fossil gas.