Prospective solar wafer manufacturer Sunwafe has taken two key steps to establish Europe’s first large-scale 20GW silicon ingot and wafer production facility: appointing a new CEO and securing permits for a 30-hectare site in northern Spain’s Asturias province.

Michael Pinto, a Lisbon-based former long-term GE Capital executive who has founded two clean energy firms since 2020, has been named Sunwafe’s new CEO. Sunwafe stated that with this appointment, it is ready to enter the execution stage, including building partnerships, forming a leadership team and raising capital.

The company has obtained local government approval for the 20GW facility in Asturias. It signed a contract with Spanish engineering firm Tresca in February to oversee the wafer plant’s engineering and project management, following a €200 million investment from the Spanish government in March 2025 under its RENOVAL renewable energy manufacturing plan.

Founded in 2024 by clean tech startup investor InnoEnergy to reduce Europe’s critical dependency in the clean energy value chain, Sunwafe plans to produce 2.5 billion silicon wafers annually (equivalent to 20GW of solar capacity), with commercial operations expected in early 2029.

New CEO Michael Pinto noted that the project is a defining moment for Europe and the global energy transition, adding that Sunwafe will partner with select Asian strategic partners to build a globally competitive manufacturing platform and reshore wafer production in Europe.

The announcement aligns with Europe’s enhanced efforts to build domestic solar manufacturing capacity. Dutch startup Resilicon recently received strategic priority status under the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA) for a planned polysilicon facility, while the European Commission has launched its Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) to develop strategic solar cell and inverter manufacturing capacity across Europe.