Lyten to pay €60 million for Northvolt site in Heide

The acquisition of Northvolt's site in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein, is taking shape: the US company Lyten has now agreed a purchase with the state development bank KfW, the federal government, and the state government of Schleswig-Holstein - at a price of around €60 million euros.

Northvolt drei heide min — Start of construction of Northvolt Drei (archive image)
Image: Northvolt

Since August 2025, it’s been clear that Lyten intends to take over the site of Northvolt’s planned battery cell factory in Heide. However, in Germany, overcoming all bureaucratic and legal hurdles for such a large-scale project takes considerable time. Now, the takeover appears to be nearing completion – and, according to a report by Der Spiegel, the parties involved have agreed on a purchase price for the site of approximately €60 million.

However, there is still no official confirmation. A spokesperson for the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Economic Affairs told NDR: “The state government remains in discussions with Lyten.” The cabinet and two parliamentary committees are addressing the Lyten/Northvolt matter this week. Until then, the government will not comment on the issue.

It is important to note that this is not a completed battery cell factory but rather a brownfield site, as the news magazine describes it. After a groundbreaking ceremony attended by former Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck (Greens) in March 2024, preparations were made to the site, but construction of the Northvolt Drei facility ultimately never began. In the end, Northvolt filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy under US law in November 2024, followed later by insolvency proceedings at its headquarters in Sweden. Since then, the project in Germany has stalled despite substantial funding.

Now, however, the path seems clear for Lyten’s smaller-scale solution: the US company plans to build a battery cell factory on the Heide site, though it will be significantly smaller than Northvolt’s original plans. Instead of the 3,000 jobs envisioned by Northvolt, Lyten aims to create ‘only’ 1,000 jobs. Furthermore, the project will not focus solely on cell production; Lyten also intends to establish a large battery storage system and a data centre at the site.

The sale of the site to Lyten would help mitigate losses for the public purse: the federal and state governments had provided €600 million through a convertible loan, of which over €300 million was spent. €153 million in unused funds have already been repaid, with a further €69 million expected to follow. The remainder is apparently held in an escrow account to prevent insolvency of the German project company.

spiegel.de, ndr.de (links in German)