Northvolt reviewing plans for new Swedish gigafactory

OSLO (Reuters) – Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt is reviewing plans to build a new plant in Borlange in central Sweden but has not reached any decisions, it said on Wednesday, after a newspaper reported it was cancelling the project.

The report by Swedish business daily Dagens Industri cited a municipal official.

Northvolt said in a statement it was conducting a strategic review of the site and talking to several parties, including the municipality.

“However, that discussion is still ongoing, so we will return with further comments when a decision has been made,” a spokesperson said.

“We are currently carrying out large-scale expansions in both Sweden, Germany and Canada based on the demand of our customers and investors,” he said.

Northvolt said in 2022 it had agreed to buy an old paper mill in Borlange and would turn it into a new gigafactory with a potential annual production capacity of over 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of cathode material and employ up to 1,000 people.

The company at the time said the plant would play a key role in fulfilling over $50 billion in orders from key customers, and start the first part of its operations in late 2024.

The company has one battery plant in operation in northern Sweden, another under construction in Germany, and is also planning a plant in Canada.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Louise Rasmussen and Mark Potter)