FREYR advances the development of its initial site for Norway’s first battery cell facility

FREYR continues to advance the development of Norway’s first lithium-ion battery cell (LIB) facility and are currently optimising the basis for the 2 GWh Fast Track production facility together with local site partner Mo Industrial Park (MIP).

MoU signed
Today, the ongoing collaboration between FREYR and MIP was further formalised by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the planned Fast Track production facility site. The site is “plug and play” with all infrastructure ready and available area will furthermore be increased from 40.000 m2 to 70 000 m2.

– Our ambition is to make Norway a global leader in green battery cell production by utilizing 100% green electricity at globally competitive prices, deep expertise in energy intensive and process industries and leverage locally sourced raw materials when possible. MIP represents a unique local ecosystem with substantial decades long experience in process industrial competencies. This ‘industrial DNA’ combined with a strong focus on sustainability through energy- and waste recycling and circular solutions provides the strongest basis for starting battery cell production in Norway, says CEO Tom Einar Jensen in FREYR.

Optimisation process
The site optimisation planning process with MIP includes integration of the battery facility with existing process industry infrastructure to ensure efficient supply of clean renewable electricity and raw materials required in production and maximising waste collection and recycling.

– FREYR is currently in advanced formal processes with globally leading technology providers to optimize our battery cell production facilities.  We see that our approach of continuously implementing the best available technology in the market can provide the basis for a more cost-effective production partly based on substantially reducing the acreage requirement for production at giga-scale. This means much higher output of finished product for a given site location which will also have positive additional environmental impact, says CTO of FREYR, Ryuta Kawaguchi.

– FREYR has strengthened its position to be able to start construction of the Fast-Track facility towards the end of Q2-2021 inside MIP. Based on updated discussions with MIP, our technology providers and various customer dialogues we are now investigating whether we could accelerate these plans even further, adds COO in FREYR, Einar Kilde.

Ready for action
– We have identified the optimal plot and secured the necessary power, utilities and expertise in order to support FREYR with their plans, says VP Marketing & Business Development, Jan Gabor in MIP.  Also, CEO Arve Ulriksen supports this statement and adds that FREYR is a perfect match for MIP’s ambitions to be a world class green industrial park.

In April 2019, FREYR announced its ambition to build a battery cell plant in Norway. The planned factory could become one of the largest in Europe and will produce lithium-ion battery cells (LIB), with a business model based on licensed, tried-and-true technology. FREYR is developing the value chain from raw materials to the finished product and has signed agreements for supply of renewable energy, raw materials and technology as well as frame-agreements for construction project management, system integration and optimisation of battery cell production.

About Mo Industrial Park – Green industrial cluster with global ambitions
With about 100 companies, around 2,500 employees, a total energy consumption equivalent to three Alta power plants, and a water plant with a delivery capacity of 2,700 liters per second, Mo Industrial Park is the process industry center of Northern Norway, located in the Arctic Circle Municipality of Rana, producing metals and minerals that the world needs. It is a unique industrial ecosystem where companies leverage each other’s material and energy flows.

The park’s water-cycle utilises the same water up to four times. The companies are investing in the green shift. The cluster is founded on that there are few regions in the world that offer the same conditions to meet the global demand for metals and minerals and at the same time meet stricter requirements for environmental footprint. The goal is to become a world-class green industrial park.

Mo Industrial Park is well advanced in energy recovery and circular economy. At the park, around 400 GWh is recycled annually, which corresponds to annual energy consumption of almost 24,000 households. Co-gas is used for heating, high-temperature flue gas goes to district heating and heated cooling water goes to smolt production. Future plans are ambitious, and are related, among other things, to hydrogen production, biocarbon and battery technology and aquatic and hydroponics (aquaculture) initiatives.

About FREYR
FREYR is a Norwegian company planning 32+2 GWh lithium-based battery cell factories and a 600 MW wind park in the municipalities Rana and Nesna in Nordland, Norway. The company will supply products to the rapidly growing market for electric vehicles in Europe, as well as develop other markets within the segments marine transportation, storage, aviation and offshore oil through cluster-based R&D initiatives with leading Norwegian and European institutions and companies. For more information, see the home page at: freyrbattery.com

Contact details:

FREYR AS:Tom Einar Jensen, Chief Executive Officer, tom.jensen@freyrbattery.com

Hilde Rønningsen, Director of Communications, hilde.ronningsen@freyrbattery.com

Mo Industripark:

Arve Ulriksen, CEO, arve.ulriksen@mip.no

Jan Gabor, VP marketing & business development, jan.gabor@mip.no

Tags: Arve Ulriksen, Battery Cell production, Freyr

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