Finnish Minerals Group and FREYR to work together to establish battery cell production in Finland
The city of Vaasa will be considered as a potential investment location.
12. August 2021
Finnish Minerals Group and FREYR Battery have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pursue co-operation in implementing a battery cell investment in Finland. The parties will be identifying co-operation and business models, and technological implementation options for the plant, as well as evaluating the possibility of establishing the plant in the city of Vaasa.
“One of Finnish Minerals Group’s strategic objectives is to create a sustainable battery value chain in Finland. As part of this, our objective of introducing precursor and cathode active material production investments is already well progressed. Now our disclosed strategic partnership with FREYR marks the next logical step in our work to put Finland to the map of European cell plant projects. FREYR has the right ambitions of speed and scale, and we share the same commitment to ESG as fundamental value drivers,“ said Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group.
“Developing strong regional value chains for the supply of sustainable, low-carbon battery materials to our planned factories in Norway and the potential factories in the Nordic region with short-travelled materials is a key element of FREYR’s ambition of providing battery cells produced with the industry’s lowest CO2-footprint and high ESG standards for all our customers,” said Torstein Dale Sjøtveit, the founder and Executive Chairman of FREYR. “We look forward to exploring the potential industrial scaling of battery cell technology including development of both traditional and next-generation production capacity together with Finnish Minerals Group.”
FREYR is a developer of clean, next-generation battery cell production capacity and is just starting to build a cell production pilot facility in Mo i Rana, northern Norway. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The city of Vaasa has reserved a 90-hectare site for the potential cell plant. The site is adjacent to the battery cathode material production facility currently under development by Johnson Matthey in strategic partnership with Finnish Minerals Group.
Battery cells are needed for the electrification of transport and storage of energy
Europe has declared the ambitious goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral continent, which requires the electrification of transport and a transition to more extensive use of renewable energy. The demand for lithium-ion batteries and battery cells has been increasing in Europe especially due to the rise of electric cars, and battery use is also expected to expand to other modes of transport, such as maritime and air transport. Furthermore, Europe’s energy policy objective is to move towards a low-carbon economy through the increasing use of renewable forms of energy production, some of which require battery-based energy storage.
The components needed to manufacture lithium-ion battery cells are the cathode, anode, electrolyte, and separator, which are assembled in the same package at the cell plant. The cells are usually compiled into modules at the battery assembly plant and the modules are then assembled into battery packs for use in vehicles, energy storage and electronics.
In the value chain of lithium-ion batteries, the battery cell phase follows the precursor cathode active material (pCAM) and cathode active material (CAM) production phases, in which Finnish Minerals Group is already working on projects with its partners. The co-operation with FREYR concerns cell production.
Further information:
Matti Hietanen, CEO, Finnish Minerals Group, +358 40 823 8806, matti.hietanen(at)mineralsgroup.fi
Vesa Koivisto, SVP, Battery Value Chain, Finnish Minerals Group, +358 50 453 6322, vesa.koivisto(at)mineralsgroup.fi
Read also:
Media release by FREYR Battery
Media release by City of Vaasa
About Finnish Minerals Group
The mission of Finnish Minerals Group is to responsibly maximise the value of Finnish minerals. We manage the State’s mining industry shareholdings and strive to develop the Finnish value chain of lithium-ion batteries. In addition, we are engaged in long-term technology development of the mining and battery industries. Through our work, we contribute to Europe moving towards electric transport and a more sustainable future.
About FREYR Battery
FREYR plans to develop up to 43 GWh of battery cell production capacity by 2025 with an ambition of up to 83 GWh in total capacity by 2028 to position the company as one of Europe’s largest battery cell suppliers. Five of the facilities will be located in the Mo i Rana industrial complex in Northern Norway, leveraging Norway’s highly skilled workforce and abundant, low-cost renewable energy sources from hydro and wind in a crisp, clear and energized environment. FREYR will supply safe, high energy density and cost competitive clean battery cells to the rapidly growing global markets for electric vehicles, energy storage, and marine applications. FREYR is committed to supporting cluster-based R&D initiatives and the development of an international ecosystem of scientific, commercial, and financial stakeholders to support the expansion of the battery value chain in our region.