In Mo i Rana, a giant industrial building worth NOK 17 billion is currently being erected. According to the plan, this will become the power center for the battery adventure in Norway, and be completed in 2024/25. The project, named Giga Arctic, has been met with great enthusiasm, both locally and from the authorities in Norway. Among other things, the state has provided NOK 4 billion in loans and loan guarantees to get the project started. But now Freyr is stopping further construction of the large industrial building. The reason? They are waiting for more money from the state. Withholding order – We are withholding further orders for prefabricated steel and concrete pending clarification on further progress. That’s what operations director Jan Arve Haugan in Freyr says. Jan Arve Haugan in Freyr understands that the construction stoppage creates uncertainty. Photo: May-Helen Rolfsnes – We have said that we will not order any more equipment, and that we will complete the building so that it can stand safely, he continues. Freyr has already invested NOK 3 billion in Mo i Rana, and understands that the construction stoppage creates uncertainty. – We are keen to move forward, but we have to respect that there is a political process going on, and we have expectations that words will be put into action, he says. Tracks faster growth in the USA Freyr is not just building a battery factory in Nordland. They also have an identical factory under construction in the US: Giga America. And when President Joe Biden announced the “Inflation Reduction Act” support scheme in 2022, Freyr began to turn his attention westward. – What the Americans have done, which is completely exceptional, is to provide very solid support for the renewable industry, continues Haugan in Freyr and adds: – This changes the framework conditions for a company like Freyr, and we have to take that into account. On Friday, a recent report from Menon Economics came out on behalf of NHO, which predicts growth in the battery industry in the USA, compared to Europe and Norway. If you look at pure subsidies, without including loan guarantees, the level of support in the USA is 200 times better than in Norway. However, the graph has not taken into account the fact that loan guarantees have been given to certain projects instead of pure subsidies. The Minister of Industry: Will not participate in the subsidy race Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) tells news that he understands that the company is now orienting itself to what is happening in the USA and in Europe. – The government is working on how to upgrade our instruments and I hope that we will have further clarifications towards the summer. – We are not going to imitate the Americans’ subsidy race, says Vestre. Photo: Tale Hauso / news – When will there be clarifications about support schemes from the government? – We presented the government’s battery strategy already last year, and we have so far contributed NOK 5 billion in risk relief, including significant amounts to Freyr, says Vestre. He adds: – The government is working on looking at how to upgrade our instruments and I hope that we will have further clarifications towards the summer. – Do you feel that there is a danger that Freyr will stop the project in Nordland? – I hope not. It is a fantastic project that will create great value, export income and lots of jobs. – Can the government come close to a similar package as you have in the USA? – We have never competed in Norway to be the cheapest or most subsidized. We have competed on competence, Norwegian labour, clean and affordable energy and world champions in high productivity. Vestre explains that the government will not imitate the Americans’ subsidy race, but that they will contribute with state risk relief. This can be through, for example, loans, guarantees or grants for technology development. NHO: – Must get the industry established Daniel Bjarmann-Simonsen, regional director of NHO Nordland, believes it is important to think about this in a long-term perspective. – It is about what we will live off of for generations to come, and now we are at the point where investment is being made in the first green industrial projects around the world. – The industry is going to become hugely profitable eventually, says Bjarmann-Simonsen in NHO. Photo: Øystein Nygård / news – Can the message be interpreted as empty threats to get more money from the state for the project? – Now the Americans have finally come on board and said that now we will also become a green industry, and they have made it super profitable. After all, these are temporary investment grants to establish this industry, which will of course have to stand on its own legs in the future. He believes it is important that we also take a share of the pie when we are to have something other than oil and gas to live on in the decades far ahead. – But is it right that we use Norwegian tax money to subsidize a company that is largely owned by America? – You have Norwegian owners involved, but the most important thing is that if we want these jobs, these tax revenues in the future, then this is an industry that will eventually become hugely profitable. He highlights several things that stand out from the support scheme from the public sector between the USA and Norway. Including a strong industrial culture, good welfare schemes, job security and political stability. – Then, on top of that, we have to do something along the way to make it a little more profitable, so that we attract investment here, and that it doesn’t just disappear over the pond.
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Freyr halts construction of the battery factory in Mo i Rana
