The symbolic groundbreaking for the electric vehicle battery cell factory in Northwest Germany commenced on March 25, following local permits and state funding authorization. The facility is estimated to cost billions of euros.
The Swedish corporation Northvolt intends to invest 4.5 billion euros in the factory located in the northern Schleswig-Holstein province near Heide. The initiative will generate 3000 jobs and produce up to one million battery cells upon completion. Beginning production is scheduled for 2026.
The inaugural event was graced by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Minister of Economics Robert Habeck, CEO Peter Carlsson, and Schleswig-Holstein Premier Daniel Günther.
“Germany is and will remain an important industrial location,” Scholz said at the factory opening ceremony today. “Investments like those of ‘Northvolt’ are strategically important for our country and for Europe,” emphasized the chancellor, noting that they will support the production of electric cars.
In the wind-rich region, the initiative is regarded as crucial to the energy and transport transition of the federal government.
“Northvolt” intends to mass-produce “the greenest battery in the world.” The plant will cool with filtered wastewater from the region. The excess heat can be used to create a district heating network for Heide, a town of about 22,000 people located inland from the North Sea shore in the northern section of Hamburg.
There are also proposals to establish a battery recycling plant for outdated electric vehicles.
“The factory will boost the development of the entire Schleswig-Holstein province and especially the western coast,” said Klaus Rue Madsen, the province’s Minister of Economics.
The goal is for the region to become a centre for the energy transition based on green energy from wind farms and to host research centres there.
