A Chinese company, DAS Solar, will open a photovoltaic panel factory in Doubs next June, which should create “at least 450 jobs initially,” its management said on Monday. This factory, with a production capacity of 3 gigawatts (GW), represents an investment of 109 million euros for the construction of three panel assembly lines, said Shi Si, vice-president of DAS Solar.
To this end, the company acquired on Monday a former industrial site located in Mandeure, near Montbéliard. The factory is sized to “accommodate 450 to 600 jobs”, for which recruitment will begin “next month”, specified the manager during a press briefing organized with the Pays de Montbéliard Agglomération (PMA) community. ). It will be the first in Europe for DAS Solar, a company founded in 2018 which has created 14 factories in China with a workforce of 8,900 employees and a cumulative capacity of 55 GW, according to Shi Si.
A “complete local photovoltaic sector”
The creation of a factory in Europe is motivated by “the European Union’s demand for a share of European manufacturing” in this area, said the manager. The company chose France after also prospecting “in Germany and Spain”, the French government and the communities having “shown great interest in our project” and achieved “rapid exchanges”, she added.
The Chinese company said it wanted to develop a “complete local photovoltaic sector”, which would add to the assembly of panels the production of photovoltaic cells, as well as subcontracting activities by “Chinese and local partners”, such as cables. and connectors and wafers (silicon wafers). The addition of these projects represents a “total potential of 2,500 jobs as presented to local authorities,” a source close to the matter told AFP.
Eight out of ten solar panels are Chinese
Eight out of ten solar panels in the world are manufactured in China and the top ten suppliers of solar panels in the world are Chinese, with exports at a record level of 45 billion euros last year, according to the firm Wood Mackenzie .
Many Western countries accuse Beijing of deliberate “overcapacity” allowing it to flood the market with equipment at knockdown prices and thus kill competition. In retaliation, Washington doubled customs duties on Chinese solar panels, increasing them to 50%. The European Union is investigating possible excessive subsidies received by Chinese manufacturers in this sector.
