Siemens has opened a battery module factory in Norway to assemble its BlueVault lithium-ion maritime battery systems.
The facility in Trondheim will assemble its liquid-cooled battery modules comprising cells manufactured in Asia, a Siemens spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing.
Each battery has nine modules, with each module comprising 28 battery cells “for a combined total installed power of 60 kilowatt-hours”, the spokesperson said.
Total production capacity in the plant is 55 modules per shift— equivalent to 300 megawatt-hours per year.
The plant, which was opened on 29 January in the presence of Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg (pictured), “is completely automated from unpacking the incoming production parts to testing the finished battery modules”, Siemens said. “The factory comprises a robotised and digitised production line with eight robotic stations.”
The factory will serve the domestic and international market. Siemens CEO Anne Marit Panengstuen said: “In Trondheim, we have established a competence centre for electrical and hybrid solutions with years of experience. This has impressed global management so much that we are now responsible for the development of new battery systems.”
Siemens said last December it would install BlueVault systems on Northern Drilling’s West Mira offshore drilling rig, about 120 kilometres northwest of Bergen in the North Sea.
