Northvolt Ett

Europe’s leading battery maker, Northvolt, has signed a $5 billion non-recourse project financing arrangement to enable the expansion of Northvolt Ett in northern Sweden. The deal represents the largest green loan raised in Europe to date.

Two workers have died in separate accidents at Northvolt’s battery gigafactory in Sweden in recent weeks, with a technician succumbing to burns after an explosion on a production line and a construction worker killed by a falling fork stand. pv magazine has learned that the equipment that caught fire was not a part of the battery manufacturing process.

The European battery manufacturer has raised the funds with a private shares placement which included the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.

In a little over ten years, Northvolt aims to pour 150 GWh of batteries onto the European market, annually. The company is also working to source end-of-life batteries for half its raw materials.

Initially, the company will construct a 16 GWh factory plus a joint venture fab with Volkswagen in Germany, which will also have a throughput of 16 GWh. Both factories could be extended to tap further into the large market for battery cells in Europe.