CALB, the Chinese battery maker, launched a project for a gigafactory in Portugal on 24 February, which it said it has invested $2.09 billion (2 billion euros) into. Construction is expected to start this year, with production to be started in 2028.
The factory is to be in the Sines Industrial Zone near Lisbon and make lithium batteries mostly for the European market with a total annual capacity of 15GWh. This is equivalent to around 187,000 batteries for electric vehicles (EV), according to Reuters.
This would be CALB’s first factory in Europe with five production buildings. The company said it would create 1800 jobs. It claims output from the factory should represent 4% of Portugal’s GDP when the plant hits full capacity.
CALB have told Lusa News Agency that its investment will also focus on the battery energy storage systems (BESS) market.
The project could receive $367 million (350 million euros) in grants from the EU’s incentive scheme for reindustrialisation, said the minister for economy Pedro Reis.
He told Lusa news agency that the investment project has been submitted to the Portuguese Agency for Investment and Foreign Trade (AICEP) to assess how much in grants can be given.
Portugal wants to take advantage of the opportunity to cover the entire value chain of lithium, according to Reuters.
Its lithium deposits would allow Portugal to cover mining and refining, as well as cell and battery manufacturing and battery recycling.
Another commercial project in Portugal relating to lithium is the Barroso mining project by Savannah resources, a company based in London. It expects to start commercial production of lithium in 2027.
