Batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries, are gaining market share. In 2016, they made up almost half of all new battery deployments. Advanced lead-acid and sodium-sulphur batteries also held large market shares. Battery storage is readily scalable and can respond in milliseconds.
The expansion is expected to increase the annual output capacity for battery production to up to 60 GWh. The deal is the largest green loan raised in Europe to date and will facilitate the creation of a fully integrated circular battery production facility that has not previously existed outside Asia. EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros stated.
The lending package is part of a $5 billion non-recourse project financing, the biggest green debt deal in Europe to date, and will support expansion of Europe’s first circular battery production gigafactory, Northvolt Ett, in Skellefteå, Sweden.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will finance Northvolt’s gigafactory in Northern Sweden, with a total lending package to slightly over $1.038 billion (€942.6 million). The financing is an important part of the $5 billion debt financing raised for the expansion of the gigafactory in Skellefteå, announced today.
Northvolt has to date raised over $3 billion in equity and debt to support the development of two lithium ion battery gigafactories and investments in R&D, industrialization and recycling. Northvolt targets a 25 percent market share in Europe by 2030 with 50 percent of raw material secured from recycled batteries.
$500 million (€453.6 million) of the EIB’s financing package is provided under a guarantee issued by the Swedish National Debt Office Riksgälden, with a further $400 million (€362.9 million) guaranteed under the European Commission’s InvestEU programme.