|7 March 2017|
Sweden
Europe’s first large-scale battery cell production factory will be built in Sweden thanks to a multi-million euro investment by InnoEnergy – the continent’s innovation engine for sustainable energy.
InnoEnergy announced today it will make a a €3.5 million investment in Northvolt AB (rebranded from SGF Energy AB), to enable the company to develop Europe’s first large-scale battery factory.
Located in the Nordic region, the factory will produce high-quality lithium-ion battery cells and is anticipated to have a final production capacity of 32GWh, similar to that of Tesla’s US gigafactory, by 204.
InnoEnergy’s investment will support Northvolt to complete technology partnerships, business development, supply chain, factory and process design, site selection and environmental and recycling plans. In particular, InnoEnergy will provide access to its pan-European network to support Northvolt in attracting further investment and support business development.
“InnoEnergy is the gateway to the largest and most valuable innovation ecosystem in Europe,” says Peter Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Northvolt. “The investment will support us in realizing our vision of creating Europe’s largest scale battery cell production facility. But – more than that – InnoEnergy’s vast network has the power to support us for years to come.”
The battery factory will produce competitive battery cells for electric cars, energy storage and other electrical powered products and applications.
“The development of a European large scale battery factory will be revolutionary, especially in terms of electrification of transport – which in itself could drastically reduce Europe’s carbon footprint,” adds Diego Pavia, CEO of InnoEnergy. “The benefits can also go beyond supporting the transition to electrification. By considering the deployment of battery-based energy storage at all levels of the electricity network, we can also see that this battery factory will add value to the grid while maximizing the integration of renewable energy. This fits perfectly with InnoEnergy’s goal to achieve a sustainable energy future in Europe.”
Northvolt chose the Nordic region for the battery factory because of its access to necessary materials and metals, availability of affordable and fossil free power supply and its modern infrastructure. Once the factory is active, it will also support thousands of direct and indirect jobs in Europe.
