On Thursday, it was revealed that the battery company Freyr will cut the costs at their battery venture in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway, in 2024. On Friday morning, the company held a briefing in which the CEO informed about the process and answered questions from those present.
The news of Freyr putting the factory building for battery production on hold in Mo i Rana is sad and severe, says the Chair of the County Government, Sven Øien Eggesvik.
Freyr is building the battery factory Giga Arctic in Mo i Rana, Nordland. The Giga factory has been referred to as potentially one of the largest investments in mainland Norway in recent times.
The battery company's pilot factory in Mo i Rana was ready in March 2023, and Giga Arctic was scheduled to be ready in 2024 with eight production lines. Now, the factory is instead taking a break until further notice.
Norway and Europe have yet to offer a competitive response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) or similar incentives from Canada. Accordingly, FREYR plans to minimise spending on the project in 2024, secure the asset with the remaining committed capital spending, and continue to work with stakeholders in Norway and Europe to develop a mutually attractive policy solution, writes the company.
The American support package for green industry, IRA, subsidises national – and thus also Freyr's – battery production by 35 per cent.
Even before the summer, it was known that Freyr would continue the project in Mo i Rana at a moderate pace in favour of an American venture - the construction of the Giga America factory in the state of Georgia.
Eggesvik believes that this is a severe setback for the industrial development in Nordland.
We, the county council, will now look at what other measures we may employ to support the growth of green industry in the county. The county will surely support the Rana community with the challenges that may arise with the downscaling at Freyr in the coming time, he says.
And the problems have already arisen. Freyr battery factory has already begun terminating employees due to the downscaling of the battery factory Giga Arctic in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway. No locations will be unaffected, says the CEO. The company also stopped its projects in Finland and Sweden.
Freyr is now moving its headquarters from Luxembourg to the US. The company’s main aim now is for Giga America to produce its first battery cells in 2025.
Source: High North News
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