Morrow Batteries opens Gigafactory in southern Norway
According to the company, test production has already started at the facility in Arendal in southern Norway. Commercial production will start at the end of the year. The first cells produced in Arendale will be prismatic LFP cells based on existing technology. “Thousands of LFP sample cells” have already been sent to potential customers “for testing and validation at the company’s Customer Qualification Line (CQL).” In the longrun, Morrow is also looking to produce its “next-gen LNMO batteries,” a technology that “eliminates cobalt and reduces nickel and lithium while maximising clean and abundant manganese.”
Morrow Batteries says that its plant “is Europe’s first gigafactory for Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries” – and the manufacturer is planning three more factories in Arendale.
“As a result of the efforts put in by many, Arendal has become the first city in Europe to host a giga LFP factory, contributing jobs, value-creation, and positioned for significant export revenues. We look forward to delivering the first commercial batteries to customers by the year’s end,” said Lars Christian Bacher, CEO of Morrow Batteries. “We look forward to delivering the first commercial batteries to customers by the year’s end.”
Morrow first presented the plans for its factory in June 2020. Initially, the first phase was to have a capacity of 8 GWh, and 32 GWh for all four phases. The company did not say whether that is still the plan and the first phase will be extended – or if the targeted production capacity has been lowered.
As reported earlier, Morrow planned to invest about five billion Norwegian krona, currently the equivalent of around 427 million euros. The project is supported by funds from the EU research programme Horizon 2020, among others.
0 Comments