” It’s a first ! », launches Margrethe Vestager, the vice-president of the Commission, in charge of competition issues, while the community executive authorized, Monday January 8, Germany to financially support, to the tune of 902 million euros, the construction on its soil of a battery factory for electric vehicles for the Swedish group Northvolt. It will begin production in 2026 and will be in full operation in 2029, when 800,000 to 1 million batteries per year will roll off its lines.
In fact, this is the first state aid validated by the institution as part of the temporary system it adopted in March 2023. In order to support clean technology manufacturers and prevent they are abandoning the Old Continent to invest in the United States or China, where billions in subsidies are offered to them, the Commission now authorizes European governments to align their aid, “in certain exceptional cases”, on that of their competitors. What’s more, production aid in strategic sectors (clean technologies, digital, etc.) is now legal, and tax credits authorized.
Faced with the 369 billion dollars (347 billion euros) in subsidies announced by Washington in August 2022 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – an amount which could be significantly higher given that the text does not provide no time limit – the Twenty-Seven realized that they had to react if they did not want to undergo a new phase of relocations and see themselves definitively relegated to the second category in the battle for green industry.
One of the great European hopes
Northvolt, which is one of the great European hopes in terms of batteries at a time when the Old Continent is seeking to catch up in this key activity for the transition of the automobile industry, announced, in March 2022, its decision to open a factory in Heide, in the German region of Schleswig-Holstein. But the group then raised the possibility of ” repel “ his project, due to rising energy prices in Europe and competition from American subsidies.
In May 2023, Northvolt finally confirmed its intentions, after Berlin had promised it financial aid. Since then, the battery specialist has been waiting for the green light from Brussels, which was given to it on Monday. “Without this help [700 millions d’euros de subventions et 202 millions d’euros de garanties], Northvolt would locate the factory in the United States, where support has been offered, particularly under the IRA.affirms the European executive. “We could have done nothing, but we know, thanks to internal Northvolt documents, that the investment would then have taken place in the United States”insists Margrethe Vestager.
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