Since it is rather general and related to the general topic of discussion, I place the article here. It seems that the wave can no longer be held back.
"The Norwegian battery giant wants to build in Sweden
Norwegian Freyr Battery plans to build several large battery factories by 2030 and one of them may end up in Svenljunga in western Sweden. This is stated by the CEO and co-founder Tom Einar Jensen, who in an interview talks about the listed upstart's multi-billion plans inspired by Swedish Northvolt.
Updated: July 7, 2022, 2:39 p.m.Published: July 4, 2022, 3:31 p.m.
Norwegian Freyr Battery, which was started with inspiration from Swedish Northvolt, is planning multi-billion investments in several large battery factories. The illustration is an early concept sketch for the company's first gigabrik 1 and 2 to be built in Mo i Rana in Norway.
"It is true that Svenljunga is one of the places we are evaluating for a possible establishment of a large gigabyte for lithium-ion batteries," says Tom Einar Jensen to Di.
However, he does not leave any further information about, for example, the size, number of employees, the schedule, or the probability that the giant project will be lost.
What is your message to those who hope that you will build a new large battery factory in Svenljunga?
“That there is reason for optimism. But at the same time it is important to emphasize that we are in an early phase and that there are no decisions. There are many parameters to evaluate and which must be met before a final decision can be made ", says Tom Einar Jensen, and adds that he hopes that the company will be able to provide further information about its possible plans in Sweden later this year.
It was
a few days before Christmas Eve last year that the news came that a foreign listed battery manufacturer was planning for a new, possibly large battery factory in an industrial area in Svenljunga municipality, a few miles from Borås . The news attracted a lot of attention in Sweden as well as hopes for multi-billion investments and several thousand new jobs. Norwegian Freyr Battery then confirmed in very scanty terms that it was the company that was behind the plans. But since then, the company has been completely silent about the project. Until now when the CEO of Freyr Battery gives his first major interview in the Swedish media.
Freyr Battery was started as late as 2018, by a number of people with a background in, among other things, the Norwegian oil and gas industry. And one of the sources of inspiration was the Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt.
“They showed that it is possible to build this type of large-scale future industry here in the Nordic region as well. And if the Swedes know, we can, we reasoned as good Norwegians ", says Tom Einar Jensen and laughs.
“We are convinced that battery manufacturing will grow enormously and become a very large and important industry. And our vision is for Freyr Battery to be one of the large companies in Europe that will become a significant player in this large and fast-growing market, ”says Tom Einar Jensen.
Like Northvolt, Freyr Battery has big growth ambitions and a focus on building as environmentally friendly batteries as possible.
"Electricity is the new oil when the world has to switch and replace fossil energy to cope with the climate threat. And batteries that are produced with fossil-free energy are then an absolute prerequisite for success both to eliminate emissions and because the electricity, from wind and solar, must be able to be stored in order to then be used where it is needed, ”says Tom Einar Jensen.
And the Nordic region, which among other things has plenty of renewable electricity for energy-intensive battery production and high technical competence and access to
important raw materials, is well placed to become one of 2-3 areas globally with large-scale battery production, he adds.
"Today, the market is dominated by Asian battery companies such as Panasonic, LGChem and more. However, we believe that a few American and European players can manage to challenge, including us and Northvolt ", says Tom Einar Jensen.
To cope with this, it is necessary, among other things, to be able to expand production capacity quickly and on a large scale. Freyr Battery has recently begun construction of its first factory in Mo i Rana in northern Norway. But that's just the starting shot. To meet the expansion plans, an additional number of battery factories and investments are required for many tens of billions of kronor, according to the CEO.
“Our goal is to have an annual production capacity of 100 GWh by 2030. It will require several factories. In addition to Mo i Rana, we have also announced possible facilities in Vaasa in Finland and in North America. And as I said, we also evaluate Svenljunga in Sweden ", says Tom Einar Jenssen.
Unlike Northvolt, Freyr Battery, which is legally based in Luxembourg, chose to go public early. In July 2021, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“We could have chosen to be private. But battery production is enormously capital-intensive and by being listed on the world's largest capital market, we were able to quickly raise large amounts of capital and at the same time have a number of heavy owners, ”says Tom Einar Jensen.
Of the more than 700 million dollars that the company received in the issue, 525 million now remains (corresponding to just over 5 billion Swedish kronor, Di's remark).
“We have enough capital to be able to start realizing our plans. We will need to raise more capital over time, but believe that the interest is great ", says Tom Einar Jensen.
"And all Swedes who are interested in gaining exposure to this exciting and fast-growing new industry are most welcome to become shareholders in Freyr," he adds.
However, Freyr Battery has had a tough start to the stock market journey and this year the share has fallen sharply in value."
https://www.di.se/nyheter/norska-batteribjassen-vill-bygga-i-sverige/
