news is aware that the contract for the construction of the new giga factory will not be renewed. The contract expires at the end of the year. Freyr wants to halve spending in Norway in 2024 compared to the current year. The company has around 400 employees in Norway, including contracted consultants. In total, Freyr has invested NOK 4 billion in Mo i Rana since the plans were launched in 2019. – Our main priorities are to start automated production at the Customer Qualification Factory in Mo i Rana, then to scale up our battery cell production to gigascale – first in Georgia in the USA, says the CEO in Freyr, Birger Steen in a press release. The company writes that the Americans’ support scheme Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) makes the profitability of a gigafactory significantly better in the USA than in Europe. “Consequently, FREYR plans to minimize investments in the Giga Arctic project in 2024, secure the asset with the remaining committed investments, and continue to work with stakeholders in Norway and Europe to develop a mutually attractive political solution,” the company writes in a press release on Thursday. The company has also previously given signals that they are directing their investments to the USA instead of Norway due to the support schemes that exist there. Freyr writes that they have received NOK 183 million in support from Innovation Norway and Enova. In addition, the company has been promised a loan guarantee, and a possible loan from Eksfin, of up to NOK 4 billion. These funds have not yet been released, the company states. County council leader: – Very disappointing county council leader in Nordland, Svein Øien Eggesvik (Sp), writes in a press release that today’s news is bad for Mo i Rana and Nordland. – The news that Freyr is awaiting the construction of a large factory for battery production at Mo i Rana is sad and serious for the Rana community. It is also disappointing for Nordland, which is now not allowed to participate in full-scale battery production in a global context, says county council leader Svein Øien Eggesvik. Svein Øien Eggesvik (Sp) is county council leader in Nordland. He describes the news about cost-cutting in Norway for Freyr as very disappointing. Photo: Kåre Riibe Ramskjell / news He believes that the downsizing may become part of the cost cuts to be implemented next year. – The way it looks now, this could mean downsizing and that the planned gigafactory at Mo will not be realized until the framework conditions in Norway and Europe are possibly changed, says Eggesvik. Now the county council in Nordland will look at what instruments they can use to support green industry in the county. – The county municipality will of course assist the Rana community in the future with challenges that may arise in connection with the downscaling at Freyr, he says.
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Freyr sharply cuts the battery investment in Mo i Rana – news Nordland
