Siemens comes on board to support Europe’s largest battery plant
A new partnership between a Swedish energy start up and Siemens is expected to fast track the construction of a major battery factory in Europe.
A new partnership between a Swedish energy start up and Siemens is expected to fast track the construction of a major battery factory in Europe.
Stockholm-based Northvolt is in the process of building a demonstration plant to develop industrial scale lithium-ion batteries. The company is aiming to produce 32 gigawatt hours (GWh) of battery capacity each year, which will rival US and Chinese factories.
The battery plant is making swift progress with the company itself only two years old. Earlier this year, Northvolt won approval for a €52.5 million ($68 million) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to help support the project.
Siemens is joining the project as a technology partner, customer and supplier. The German conglomerate will provide Northvolt with access to its sought after ‘Digital Enterprise’ portfolio, which contains cloud computing, design, manufacturing and software services.
In addition, Siemens is providing an upfront investment of €10 million to support the factory’s development. It will also become a purchaser of the new lithium-ion batteries once the plant is completed in 2020, making Northvolt a preferred supplier.
Peter Carlsson Co-Founder and CEO, Northvolt said: “The European industry is moving rapidly towards electrification. With its world-class expertise within electrification, automation and digitalization, Siemens will become an important technology partner, supplier and customer to Northvolt in this coming transition. Once we begin large-scale production, our aim is to supply the greenest lithium-ion batteries in the world.”
Jan Mrosik, CEO of Siemens Digital Factory Division added: “We are happy to support Northvolt in building the battery factory of the future. With our Digital Enterprise portfolio, we contribute to a competitive battery cell production in Europe that fully exploits the benefits of software and automation: greater flexibility, efficiency and quality with shorter time to market.”
Photo Credit: Northvolt
