Three Norwegian organisations have granted $11 million (NOK 100 million) to a consortium of companies that aims to provide a platform for the establishment of a sustainable battery production industry.
The money will enable the consortium— together with independent research organisation SINTEF, and the Institute for Energy Technology— to initiate the ‘Sustainable Materials for the Battery Value Chain’ project.
The money comes via Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway, and Industrial Development Corporation of Norway (Siva).
The money is available through the Norwegian Green Platform initiative (Green Platform).
The consortium also includes Norwegian firms: silicon and carbon materials company Elkem, synthetic graphite manufacturer Vianode (an Elkam subsidiary), aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro, marine battery maker Corvus, and gigafactory developer Morrow (a joint venture between Graphene Batteries and Agder Energy Ventures).
How much each company will receive has not been announced.
The companies will work to reduce environmental footprints along the entire battery value chain, from the production of active battery materials to cell production, modeling of battery downgrading, safety and recycling.
The Green Platform provides companies and research institutes with support for research- and innovation-driven energy transformation.
Consortium of battery value chain members
Battery developer Freyer— the Luxemburg headquartered firm developing a lithium-ion gigafactory in Finland— is part of the consortium.
Jan Arve Haugan, president and managing director, Freyr Battery Norway, said: “Support from the Norwegian Green Platform initiative sends a strong signal from the Norwegian authorities that batteries are a key strategic focus area to decarbonize our energy and transportation systems.
“Together with the industry partners and the authorities, we will be able to move faster and make an even stronger impact.”
Finland battery plant
In 2020, firm Freyr secured NOK 130 million ($13 million) of pre-construction financing to build Norway’s first lithium-ion battery cell facility.
The cash was earmarked for the design and technology selection process and the development of a 2GWh Fast Track battery cell manufacturing plant in the town of Mo i Rana, Rana municipality.
A Freyer spokesman told BEST the plans for Mo I Rana were continuing, with Freyer pursuing the “gigafactory plans in Mo I Rana, and is in an Environmental Impact Assessment process in Finland for the potential construction plans there.”
Last September, Freyer entered into two non-binding memoranda of understanding (MoU) for the potential development of industrial scale battery cell production in Finland.
The MoUs with Finnish Minerals Group and the City of Vaasa came as Freyer ramped up plans to develop up to 43GWh of battery cell production capacity by 2025 and 83GWh by 2028.
