At InnoEnergy, we are supporting the creation of a new industrial champion to strengthen Europe’s solar value chain. Sunwafe, the company we founded in 2024, has now reached several important milestones as it advances plans to establish Europe’s first large-scale silicon ingot and wafer manufacturing plant.
In March 2026, Sunwafe secured approval from regional authorities for a 30-hectare greenfield site in Asturias, Spain. This site approval represents a critical step towards the project’s construction and industrial deployment phase, enabling the development of a 20 GW ingot and wafer manufacturing facility.
To guide the company through its next phase, Sunwafe has appointed experienced founder and energy industry executive Michael Pinto as Chief Executive Officer, effective 2 March 2026. Under his leadership, the company is moving into execution across key areas, including building its leadership team, advancing industrial partnerships, raising capital and preparing its operational footprint in Spain. Commercial operations are currently targeted to begin in early 2029.
Michael Pinto, CEO of Sunwafe: “Clearly, this is a defining moment for Europe and for the global energy transition. As Europeans, we must ask ourselves what energy security truly means and what role we want clean energy to play in our shared future. By carefully constructing win-win agreements with select strategic partners in Asia, Sunwafe is committed to building a globally competitive advanced manufacturing platform that successfully reshores wafer production as a core industrial capability here in Europe.”
Sunwafe has also reinforced its industrial plan through a strategic partnership with Tresca, a Spanish engineering firm with more than 25 years of experience delivering complex industrial infrastructure projects worldwide. Tresca will act as owner’s engineer, with responsibility for project management as well as all basic and detailed engineering for the Asturias facility.
We initiated Sunwafe to address a structural gap in Europe’s clean energy ecosystem. Today, more than 90% of global silicon wafer production is concentrated in Asia, creating a significant dependency in a strategically critical segment of the photovoltaic value chain. Closing this gap requires more than investment alone; it demands a systemic approach to building new industrial champions by aligning industrial, financial and technology partners from the outset.
Sébastien Clerc, CEO of InnoEnergy: “Sunwafe tackles one of the most critical missing links in Europe’s photovoltaic value chain. Industrial projects of this scale only succeed when you take a systemic approach, with the right partners in place from the start.”
In 2025, Sunwafe was awarded a €200 million non-refundable grant from the Spanish government under the RENOVAL programme, part of Spain’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR), supported by the European Union’s Next Generation EU funds. This funding underlines the project’s strategic relevance for both Spain and Europe.
Once fully operational, the plant is expected to reach an annual production capacity of up to 2.5 billion silicon wafers, equivalent to 20 GW and up to 50% of Europe’s projected annual wafer demand by 2030. Construction is planned to begin in 2027, with a final investment decision targeted for February 2027. At full capacity, the project is expected to create up to 2,600 jobs.
By manufacturing silicon ingots and wafers at industrial scale in Europe, Sunwafe will enable a new generation of high-performance, traceable and low-carbon photovoltaic cells and modules — supporting European and global manufacturers while anchoring industrial value creation in Europe.
