Sweden. Northvolt Ett AB

The loan has been provided for the development, construction, expansion, operation and maintenance of the Northvolt Ett integrated Lithium-Ion battery manufacturing and recycling facility Revolt Ett in Skellefteå, Sweden.

This second loan from NIB will co-finance two new battery cell manufacturing blocks, expanding the capacity of the Northvolt ETT factory from 16 GWh to approximately 45 GWh, as well as a 4 GWh battery cells and materials recycling plant providing input materials for cell manufacturing at the same site.

Part of the financing will be to refinance all the existing debt raised in 2020 for the construction of the first two battery cell manufacturing blocks of 16 GWh. The InvestEU programme will support USD 31.6 million of the loan under the Sustainable Infrastructure policy window, excluding the refinancing of existing debt.

In 2020, NIB signed a 10-year USD 44.3 million loan with Northvolt ETT AB for the construction of the first two battery cell manufacturing blocks.

The special purpose vehicle Northvolt Ett AB is owned by Northvolt AB, a supplier of sustainable batteries from green factories. Founded in 2016 to enable the European transition to a decarbonised future, the company plans to deliver the world’s greenest lithium-ion battery with a minimal CO₂ footprint and the highest recycling ambitions. Among Northvolt AB’s owners, investors, industrial partners and customers are the founder Peter Carlsson, VW AG, BMW AG, Audi AG, Scania AB, Volvo Group, Goldman Sachs Asset Management, the Danish pension fund ATP and the UK asset manager Baillie Gifford.

Productivity:
Northvolt’s investment will significantly increase its production capacity from 16 to 45 GWh/y, and the need for labour will strongly increase between 2023 and 2026. The company is also investing more resources in Northvolt Labs to boost their R&D capabilities. It is therefore expected that the investments will lead to a considerable increase in both employment and GDP.

In the operational phase, the power facility’s consumption will help balance out power prices in SE1, which are currently lower than other price areas of Nordpool. The value of power production is likely to increase, and this could lead to new investments in renewable energy production.

The project will benefit NIB’s member countries’ high value added business clusters, particularly the automotive and electric apparatus industries. It will provide them with access to cost-efficiently produced batteries with low transportation costs. This will also add value to the mining sectors in NIB’s member countries, which produce nickel and potentially rare earth metals.

Environment:
Northvolt seeks to reduce CO₂ emissions from the manufacture of battery cells from 33 kg/kWh to 10 kg/kWh by 2030. The current global benchmark for this type of cells is 61-106 kg/kWh. Some 94% of total climate change impacts are attributable to the materials purchased, with 3% each for production and transport and logistics.

Northvolt is committed to sustainability and plans to manufacture 200,000 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries and recycle 125,000 tonnes of waste batteries per year. They have an environmental management system certified according to ISO14001 and aim to use 50% recycled materials in battery cells by 2030. This will reduce raw material use through recovery of metals and plastics as well as reducing disposal and end-of-life impacts associated with batteries. It will also enable the subsequent use of sodium from wastewater treatment in fertiliser production.

Sustainability proofing in accordance with the InvestEU Fund requirements were carried out. A sustainability proofing summary is available here.