The Norwegian battery company Freyr is scaling back plans for a battery cell factory in Finland. However, the plans for a cathode factory remain in force.

Freyr Battery is soon closing the doors of the Giga Arctic factory in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway. The company announced on 9 November that they would cut costs at their battery venture there in 2024. The decision was made in favour of an American venture - the construction of the Giga America factory in the state of Georgia.

The reason is the American support package for the green industry, the IRA. It subsidises national – and thus also Freyr's – battery production by 35 per cent. Freyr's CEO says that Norway and Europe have yet to offer a competitive answer to the US support package.

The company also stopped the construction of similar battery cell factories in Finland and Sweden.

The Norwegian company is not the only one shifting its production from Europe to the US.

High natural gas prices push European manufacturers to shift to the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reports.

According to the publication, battered by skyrocketing gas prices, companies in Europe that make steel, fertiliser and other feedstocks of economic activity are shifting operations to the U.S., attracted by more stable energy prices and government support.

Freyr had originally planned to build a battery cell and cathode factory in Finland's Vaasa region. Freyr's CEO announced at a public meeting in Mo i Rana earlier in November that a battery factory would not be built in Finland under the current conditions.

However, the plans for a cathode factory remain, says the Vice President of Communication in Freyr, in an e-mail to High North News. Here, we are planning to send in our application for an environmental permit, she added.

Source: High North News

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