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A prestigious project for Schleswig-Holstein and the entire republic: Chancellor Scholz symbolically starts the construction of a new battery factory with other representatives from politics and the Northvolt group.
© Marcus Brandt/dpa
Official start of the construction of a large factory on the North Sea coast: From 2026, Northvolt wants to build battery cells for electric cars at Heide.
The factory is considered a lighthouse project.
Heide – Northvolt wants to build up to a million battery cells a year for electric cars in a large factory near Heide in Schleswig-Holstein.
The Swedish company wants to invest 4.5 billion euros near the North Sea coast and create 3,000 jobs.
In addition to Northvolt boss Peter Carlsson, not only Schleswig-Holstein's Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), but also Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) came to the start of construction.
In government circles there is talk of a flagship project for the energy and transport transition.
The location with excess wind power offers the best conditions for energy-intensive battery production.
According to its own information, the company wants to produce nothing less than the “greenest battery in the world in series”.
The plant will use treated wastewater from the region for cooling purposes.
Heat from production could be transferred to a possible district heating network in the city of Heide.
A facility for recycling old batteries from discarded electric cars is also being considered.
“The factory will provide a boost for the entire state of Schleswig-Holstein and especially for the west coast,” said State Economics Minister Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU).
Together with the federal government, the state wants to create the logistical requirements for operations.
Greenpeace praises project: “Can give momentum to transport transition”
With the factory and existing research facilities as well as the abundant green energy, the Dithmarschen region could become a region of competence for the energy transition.
For Greenpeace, Heide shows what a sustainable industrial country could look like.
“This battery factory uses green electricity directly where it is generated, it brings added value back into the country and can give momentum to the switch to clean electric cars in Germany, which has so far been far too slow.”
Prime Minister Günther sees advantages, especially for the German auto industry.
For appropriate supply chains, “the greenest car battery in the world must, if possible, be built in Germany,” he said.
The conversion to renewable energies is a “location advantage and means industrial settlement”.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects that the construction of the factory will create 10,000 more jobs in the region: “This will create huge opportunities for medium-sized businesses.” Discussions about the settlement have been ongoing locally since 2021.
At the beginning of the year, the EU Commission finally approved funding and guarantees for the project from the federal and state governments amounting to 902 million euros.
They are supporting the construction of the battery factory with around 700 million euros.
There are also possible guarantees for a further 202 million euros.
Of the funding, around 564 million euros go to the federal government and up to 137 million euros to Schleswig-Holstein.
Habeck: Wind power is becoming a “magnet” for company settlements
It was a tough game: Northvolt boss Carlsson had meanwhile signaled that construction in Heide could be delayed.
He cited the comparatively high electricity prices in Germany and higher subsidies in the USA as reasons.
The Swedish company says it has an order backlog of more than $50 billion.
Customers include the Volkswagen Group, BMW, Scania and Volvo Cars.
The Federal Minister of Economics explained the choice of location with the availability of renewable energy.
Northvolt looked throughout Europe and throughout Germany for a suitable location.
According to Robert Habeck, wind power will “become a magnet for company settlements”.
The Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW) also sees great opportunities for Schleswig-Holstein in the area of green energies.
There are “many good regional and economic policy reasons to promote and accelerate this transformation process,” explained Institute President Moritz Schularick.
The bottom line, however, is that the groundbreaking ceremony is “very expensive” and leads to a “subsidy race,” he criticized.
“Northvolt’s investment would probably have been worthwhile even with far fewer subsidies, which only makes the shareholders happy.”