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Electronics Production |
EU to support Northvolt’s European battery project
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a loan request from Northvolt AB. The financing, a facility of up to EUR 52.5 million, is projected to be supported by InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators’s Energy Demonstration Projects facility.
The parties will now finalise negotiations and, after signature, Northvolt is expected to begin construction of its demonstration line in Sweden in the coming months. This facility will serve to show the commercial viability of the concept and to qualify and industrialise products together with Northvolt’s customers. The produced batteries are targeted for use in transport, stationary storage, and industrial and consumer applications.
The demonstration site will also comprise a research facility and in total the Västerås operations will employ between 300-400 people. The launch of the demonstration plant is a key step towards the establishment of Northvolt’s large-scale li-ion battery factory in Skellefteå, northern Sweden, eventually targeting a production of 32 GWh worth of battery capacity annually.
Ambroise Fayolle, vice-president of the EIB, commented: “The Bank is fulfilling one of its main purposes by supporting this type of research and development in Europe. With the growing momentum of clean energy and electric mobility, batteries will become ever more important. Europe is currently lagging behind when it comes to battery manufacturing and this highly innovative and strategic project deserves European backing to fill that gap.”
Peter Carlsson, CEO of Northvolt, added: “Europe is moving rapidly towards electrification. Northvolt’s objective is to build the world’s greenest battery to enable the transition. With the support from the European Investment Bank and the European Union, we are now one step closer to establishing a competitive European battery manufacturing value chain.”
Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said: "Batteries are a strategic component of our competitiveness and to capture a new European market worth EUR 250 billion annually as of 2025, we need to act fast. I therefore welcome the decision taken by the EIB, which will help this industry-led project take off the ground. It is important to pool all available instruments at the national and European level, such as InnovFin. The European Battery Alliance will continue supporting prospective partnerships throughout the value chain."
