Prepare for Norwegian graphite battery manufacturing facility

• Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer as well as silicon organisation Elkem is preparing to build a manufacturing facility in Herøya.

Norwegian polysilicon maker and also silicon product company Elkem has announced prepare for a graphite battery manufacturing facility at the Herøya Industrial Park in Porsgrunn, 150km south of Oslo.

The Northern Recharge manufacturing center is intended to help develop a solid European battery market, said Elkem, which belongs to the China National Bluestar Group chemicals company held by the state-owned China National Chemical Corporation.

" This allows us to construct a very economical plant with excellent access to renewable energy, possibly reducing CO2 emissions by 90% compared to choices based upon fossil energy," stated Elkem Battery Materials VP Stian Madshus of the graphite battery fab. "We also secure close distance to our pilot plant and internationally-leading research atmospheres within product innovation."

The business has a NOK65 million ($ 7.36 million) pilot graphite battery production site in Kristiansand which is readied to start procedure early following year. That center, and the planned fab in Porsgrunn, will certainly produce lithium-ion batteries based on a graphite anode product that will certainly have prospective applications for consumer electronic devices, electric cars and grid scale battery storage.

Elkem stressed the significance of Norwegian public assistance for its new project. The business mentioned: "For Norway to understand our possibility, we need to see public-private partnerships, public assistance mechanisms and also helpful policies establishing with adequate speed and scale, allowing us to win in this international competitors."

China National Bluestar Group agreed to get Elkem for about $2 billion in 2011. In March 2014, Hong Kong-based monetary financier, Guangyu International consented to invest $200 million in brand-new equity in Elkem Solar, which owns a 6,000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in Kristiansand, southerly Norway. Bluestar likewise acquired Norwegian PV producer REC Solar ASA for NOK4.34 billion ($491 million) in 2015.