Northvolt secures $1.6 bn support for twin battery gigafactories

• In a little over ten years, Northvolt aims to pour 150 GWh of batteries onto the European market, each year. The firm is also functioning to resource end-of-life batteries for half its raw materials.

An array of public financing establishments, business banks and also pension plan funds has actually released one more vote of confidence in Swedish battery supplier Northvolt. The company today introduced it has raised $1.6 billion in debt financing to pursue its goal of protecting 25% of Europe's battery market by 2030 while sourcing fifty percent of its basic materials-- including lithium as well as cobalt-- from end-of-life batteries.

The capitalists backing Northvolt's most recent financing round are France's BNP Paribas and Société Générale; Danish lending institution Danske Bank, its Danica Pension subsidiary as well as compatriot PFA Pension; the IMI division of Italian lender Intesa Sanpaolo as well as domestic competing UniCredit; Netherlands-based ING; The IPEX-Bank subsidiary of German growth bank KfW; Swedish monetary group SEB as well as compatriot lending institution Swedbank; Germany's Siemens Bank, Japan's SMBC; and also a capitalist referred to as APG, as well as the European Investment Bank, the Nordic Investment Bank and also the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Kexim).

Past those borrowings, assurances to the financing framework will certainly be given by public entities Nippon Export and also Investment Insurance (Nexi) and BPI France. An additional warranty tranche, from French credit score insurance provider Euler Hermes, is waiting for final authorization. BNP Paribas as well as London-based Morgan Stanley & Co International will certainly act as economic consultants to Northvolt.

The story until now

" The reality that we have these first-rate financial institutions sustaining a brand-new market in Europe is a clear sign of where the marketplaces are headed as well as the chance that brings for sustainable projects," claimed Northvolt principal financial officer Alexander Hartman. "This brand-new industrial landscape will certainly need substantial investments over the coming years."

The battery manufacturer was released in March 2017 and also utilizes around 700 people in Sweden, Germany and also Poland. Northvolt has a battery factory in Gdansk, in Poland, as well as runs the Northvolt Labs R&D center in Västerås, Sweden.

The business had actually already increased $3 billion towards the expense of 2 gigafactories in previous funding rounds. The Northvolt Ett fab, in Skellefteå, Sweden, is incomplete as well as intends to start creating 40 GWh of batteries by following year. The 2nd planned gigafactory goes to the permitting phase of growth. The Northvolt Zwei Factory, in Salzgitter Germany, will certainly manufacture 20 GWh of batteries annually.

" The momentum for electrification is more powerful than ever," said Peter Carlsson, co-founder as well as CEO of Northvolt. "Our customers need large volumes of top quality batteries with a low CO2 impact, and also Europe has to develop a totally regionalized value chain to support them."

Auto titans

German auto marque Volkswagen in 2015 sat on the Northvolt board after investing $900 million right into the business as well as competing BMW introduced it had signed a $2 billion, long-term battery supply handle the venture days after disclosing plans for completely electrical versions of its top-selling 5 as well as 7 series versions.

With Northvolt approximating it would need 150 GWh of annual production capacity to hit its 25% of the European market target, the company is creating a co-located hydrometallurgical recycling center at the Northvolt Ett site, to aid satisfy its recycled battery pledge.

The business is working with Norwegian battery collection firm Batteriretur and also compatriot aluminum producer Hydro to resource sufficient end-of-life batteries as well as to boost the economics of the reusing process. Hydro will pre-treat electrical lorry batteries to extract light weight aluminum as well as deliver the continuing to be material to Nothvolt's recycling facility. The goal is to have the recycling plan up and running as well as refining 8,000 tons of battery waste by 2022.