The European Union has awarded Norwegian battery maker Freyr €100m to support the development of its ‘Giga Arctic’ facility in the Norwegian town of Mo i Rana.
The grant for Freyr – a developer of clean, battery cell production capacity – will be funded through the EU’s Innovation Fund (EUIF) as part of the body’s efforts to promote localised production of battery solutions.
Commenting on the funding, Freyr co-founder and CEO, Tom Einar Jensen, said: “We are delighted with the news we have received from the EU’s Innovation Fund to support FREYR’s Giga Arctic project.
“This grant is a recognition that batteries represent the key catalyst of the energy transition, supporting regional energy security through faster deployment of renewable energy.
“Moreover, this significant financial commitment provides timely support to continued development of the Giga Arctic project, which is intended to bring clean battery products to our customers and partners across Europe.
“We look forward to working with the EUIF as well as the Norwegian government to unlock further momentum for next generation battery production capacity at GWh scale in Norway.”
The Giga Arctic factory
Giga Arctic, which has been under development since June 2022, is designed to be a 29GWh nameplate capacity facility based on the 24M Technologies SemiSolid manufacturing platform and powered with 100% renewable hydroelectricity.
Freyr says the annual production at its Giga Arctic facility could enable its customers to mitigate 80 million tons of CO2 emissions over the batteries’ lifetime, when used for renewable Energy Storage Systems.
The projected emissions mitigation equates to almost twice the total amount of CO2 emitted in Norway annually.
Also commenting on the funding, the CEO of Enova – a Norwegian government enterprise responsible for the promotion of environmentally friendly production and consumption of energy – Nils Kristian Nakstad, said: “The broad support from the EU’s innovation fund shows that Norwegian industry and business are very close to innovation and technology development.
“The five projects that receive support all point towards the transformation we are facing as a society.
“Enova supports those who go ahead, and there is therefore every reason to congratulate.”
Image: Freyr’s Giga Arctic facility during construction. Credit: Freyr
Read next: Vattenfall wins permission to start producing electricity at Danish offshore wind farms
Are you a building professional? Sign up for a FREE MEMBERSHIP to upload news stories, post job vacancies, and connect with colleagues on our secure social feed.