The continuous increase in the price of fossil fuels and growing concern for environmental issues is driving the development of renewable energy sources. At the top of the list comes photovoltaic technology which enables us to convert solar radiation into electrical power.

With the European market growing at the rate of 30% a year, solar power has developed a dynamic that can look forward to a promising future. German firms have pioneered this fi eld and the city of Dresden has established itself as the leading centre in Europe. France, not wishing to miss the bus, decided in 2006 to offer one of the most attractive rates in Europe to individual consumers producing solar power, a most effective measure that boosted the national market by 115% within the year.

A promising technology ...
Under these favourable conditions, both at home and abroad, what was needed was a base from which to develop our potential. Grenoble-Isère already has a head start when it comes to cutting edge technology, so it seemed an ideal location to play host to a project that will mobilise all of Rhône-Alpes' high-tech skills. Following on from micro and nanotechnology the photovoltaic (PV) side of Grenoble-Isère is taking shape, with the ambition of rapidly building the framework for a whole new industry based on renewable energy technology. Grenoble-Isère has the necessary technological basis, which has proved its worth in the past and continues to do so.
Research is based on laboratories such as CEA-Leti and CEA-Liten, giving Grenoble a fi rm lead in new materials and their industrial application. Furthermore France's only manufacturer of PV cells, Photowatt Technologies, is located in Grenoble-Isère, which is certainly no coincidence.

Solutions in Grenoble-Isère
Not only does it benefit from direct contact with microelectronics equipment manufacturers, supplying local industry and research center, but also from the proximity of the Solar Energy Institute, in nearby Chambéry, with additional support from Tenerrdis, the regional competitiveness cluster specializing in renewable energy sources. All in all Grenoble-Isère is in the vanguard of solar energy in France and further afi eld. To move up to the next stage Photowatt Technologies, EDF Energies Nouvelles and CEA have joined forces to set up PV Alliance, a company designed to organize the industry in France, reducing produc tion costs through industrial production of a new silicon-based technology. PV Alliance is poised to build the Lab-Fab, to which the Isère Department Council will be contributing €15m. The pilot R&D unit, covering 9,000 sq m, will bring together at Bourgoin Jallieu a laboratory and a production line for prototypes and semi-industrial silicon wafers and PV cells using a new fabrication process currently under development as part of the Photosil project.
Solar energy is on the march in Grenoble- Isère!