Norwegian firm Freyr has secured NOK 130 million ($13 million) of pre-construction financing to build the country’s first lithium-ion battery cell facility.
The cash will be used to complete the design and technology selection process and enable the development of a 2GWh Fast Track battery cell manufacturing plant in the town of Mo i Rana, Rana municipality.
Rana municipality, and Helgeland Invest, a regional investment company set up to promote local value creation, and 40 professional and private investors have already placed NOK 117 million ($12 million) in pre-construction financing.
Through a private placement of new equity, and a conversion of a bridge facility from this spring, the total financing now stands at NOK 130 million.
Torstein Dale Sjøtveit, the executive chairman of Freyr, said he was confident that Norway had the potential to become a global leader in battery cell production to supply growing demand across multiple markets.
Freyr announced plans to build large scale battery cell manufacturing facilities in Norway in April 2019.
The company has signed initial agreements with ‘globally leading companies’ for supply of renewable energy, raw materials, equipment and technology, as well as various infrastructure.
Freyr’s CEO Tom Einar Jensen said: “We are now progressing towards technology selection and offtake agreements which will unlock the development of the 2GWh Fast Track facility as planned.”
Work on the 2GWh facility is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2021.
The Company is evaluating two greenfield sites in the municipality for the subsequent 32GWh two-phased giga-factory development.
Last September, marine battery maker Corvus Energy opened a second lithium-ion battery factory in Bergen, Norway, as it looks to meet demand for marine propulsion and electrical systems in Europe.
In February 2019, Siemens opened a battery module factory in Norway to assemble its BlueVault lithium-ion maritime battery systems.