PVTIME – The French renewable energy firm Reden has confirmed the permanent closure of its photovoltaic module assembly facility in France. This is the second major cessation of domestic solar manufacturing in France since Photowatt halted production in January 2025.
Establishment of REDEN (formerly Fonroche) in Roquefort
This leaves Voltec, which is based in Alsace, as the country’s sole surviving indigenous PV module producer, as national homegrown solar manufacturing capacity has effectively been withdrawn from commercial markets.
The facility, which is located in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in the Aveyron department of the Occitanie region in southern France, has a capacity of 200MW and only entered full commercial production in December 2024. Reden had previously invested close to €4.5 million in upgrading its production lines in order to strengthen its domestic solar supply chain and boost manufacturing competitiveness. However, sustained operational decline has since forced a full site shutdown.
Florence Burhin, head of corporate communications at the Reden Group, stated that the plant could no longer deliver viable long-term profitability to justify ongoing manufacturing activity. Two interconnected pressures have driven the facility’s financial failure. Intense competition from established Asian PV manufacturers with cost and scale advantages has created unrelenting market headwinds. Meanwhile, French and European public procurement frameworks lack targeted support measures for local solar production, resulting in consistent losses for the site since its launch.
Persistent structural losses and the lack of a viable corrective path prompted Reden to close the plant, thereby capping financial exposure and preventing risk from spreading across its wider business portfolio. This move safeguards the group’s core agrivoltaics operations, which are a key source of revenue for the company. According to internal corporate sources, the competitive divide between European domestic manufacturers and Asian solar producers is widening, and current policy frameworks are unable to deliver effective remedies.
National and EU policymakers have introduced important industrial support measures, including the Net-Zero Industry Act, France’s Industrial Acceleration Act, and the European Solar Charter. However, these regulatory packages have had little practical impact and have failed to reverse the ongoing contraction of Europe’s domestic photovoltaic manufacturing sector.
The shutdown will directly affect nine on-site employees. Reden will offer internal job transfers to all affected staff in order to reallocate the entire workforce and minimise labour disruption.
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