According to initial plans, one million batteries are to be produced annually in Schleswig-Holstein with around 3,000 employees.
(Photo: Reuters)
Dusseldorf The major investment was uncertain for a long time, but now the project is taking an important step forward. After a funding commitment, the Swedish battery start-up Northvolt is sticking to its plan to build a battery cell plant in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein.
On Tuesday and Thursday, the two communities affected, Lohe-Rickelshof and Norderwöhrden, decided to enter the next phase of the approval process, which is seen as an important milestone on the way to the future start of construction.
The federal government and the state government of Kiel are ready “to support the construction of a gigafactory for battery cells in Heide by the Swedish company Northvolt”. This was announced by the company and the Federal Ministry of Economics on Friday.
Thanks to great demand, Northvolt could build two plants in parallel
At the same time, Northvolt is still looking for another production site in North America, as the Handelsblatt learned from industry circles. Due to the high demand, the company says it is considering building two factories at the same time, but nothing has been decided yet. First, the US economic service “Bloomberg” reported on the double deal.
Until recently, the plans in Heide had faltered after Northvolt boss Peter Carlsson publicly questioned the investment. We are “now in a situation where we could prioritize our expansion in the US over the EU,” Carlsson said last year. One of the reasons was the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the US government’s huge package of subsidies for green technologies.
With a construction in Germany, Northvolt is now apparently being offered more financial public support. The plant in Heide will cost 4.5 billion euros and will have a production capacity of 60 gigawatt hours. That’s enough to power one million electric cars a year.
So far, Europe and the state of Schleswig-Holstein have funded the project with 155.4 million euros. The communication states that further funding is being prepared, which must be approved by the EU Commission. Company circles said that a task force for the battery project in Heide had been set up in the Chancellery. In addition to a so-called notification procedure with the EU Commission, the final building permit for the factory is still pending.
The battery cell plant could create 3000 direct jobs in Heide and thousands more in the surrounding industry and service sector. Everyone involved aimed to ensure that the requirements for starting construction this year are met. The delivery of battery cells from Heide could then start in 2026.
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