Norwegian Crystals in Glomfjord has recently signed an agreement with one of the world’s largest companies within innovation and green energy; EIT InnoEnergy. The investment has a price tag of close to NOK 19 billion and involves an expansion of the factory in Glomfjord with an increase in the number of employees from 80 to 500. And that in a village with approximately a thousand inhabitants. In the factory premises in Glomfjord, there is little that gives any indication of the several hundred new jobs or the billions from the investment. The employees have been laid off since December due to a lack of customers. The factory is important for the village’s existence. Now it might finally be able to Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news – It’s getting to be a while. Therefore, the news gives hope to those who are sitting at home waiting for the development, says main shop steward Sandra Roksøy. She herself has been involved in both ups and downs in Norwegian Crystals, and in its predecessor Renewable Energy Corporation (REC). – Many of us have been there before during REC and the development that was there then. It is the carrot that we are here to stand on. We know how much fun it is with such an upturn and have every faith that it can happen in Glomfjord again. – What makes you stay with the company despite all the redundancies? – It is the belief that things will go well, the belonging to the company and the place. The company is unique outside of Asia. We know we are good at what we do. The municipality has faith in solar investment It has been a rollercoaster for the employees at the factory. In 2020, several employees worked for several months without pay. Despite the fact that there has been a lot of instability associated with the business in Glomfjord, mayor Sigurd Stormo says that the municipality has been positive about the solar investment since it began in the 90s. – It grew big, but gave us a real downturn when REC went bankrupt. But even after that, we’ve had faith that this is an industry for which life is made. Sigurd Stormo, mayor of Meløy municipality, believes the timing is good for a new major investment in solar products in Europe. Photo: Andreas Nilsen Trygstad / news The last time things went badly, it was because China took over almost all production of raw material for solar panels. – But now there are good opportunities to start production in Norway again. The timing now is perhaps the best for this to succeed, says the mayor. History: Norwegian Crystals Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news 2020 was a turbulent year for the solar company Norwegian Crystals. Group CEO Gøran Bye described the situation at the time as “you can’t get any closer to doom.” The corona pandemic and a near bankruptcy created uncertainty and for several months the employees worked without being paid wages. In the autumn of 2020, the company received NOK 51 million in fresh share capital, which saved the situation. Since then, they have been working to expand their operations. Towards a more independent Europe The EU has given the innovation company InnoEnergy a mandate, where the ambition is to produce solar panels each year from 2025 with the capacity to produce 30 gigawatts of electricity. This corresponds to the same amount of power as 30 million panel ovens of 1000 watts. Norwegian Crystals has a sales agreement with a framework of NOK 18.7 billion. – That is our gross sales revenue over 8 years on the sales contract we have entered into with a large European company, says CEO Gøran Bye. Silicon Ingot to be turned into silicon wafers. Photo: Norwegian Crystals The situation outside the world, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, has accelerated the power apparatus in the EU. Earlier this year, Germany declared that it had become independent of gas, oil and coal from Russia. In addition, they have also increased the pace of investment in climate-friendly renewable energy as a result of the war in Ukraine and its ripple effects. In Glomfjord, Bye believes that their investment also comes as a response to the need for a more independent Europe. – Solar has become “cheap enough”. There is no longer the same rush to bring down costs and prices, Virtually all solar panels in the world today come from Chinese companies, says Bye. This is supported by Nils Røkke, director of sustainability at SINTEF. Nils Røkke in Sintef says the cheapest sources of energy now are solar and wind. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news – This has affected both wind with a lot of production in Europe. The same has happened with batteries, and then there is this with solar energy, he says. Bye: – Must make it big Part of the challenge has been that in China they have managed to produce more cost-effectively. Norwegian Crystals therefore believes that there is no point in doing this on a small scale. Only last week, the solar cell manufacturer REC Solar informed Norge that 50 employees were going to lose their jobs, in addition to the 80 who had been laid off, but who now no longer work in the company. – Then we have to make things big. We can’t just do little. We have worked for two years together with InnoEnergy and other companies to facilitate a quantum leap on a European scale. Now it remains to collect NOK 3.6 billion to finance the development of the factory in Glomfjord. – That is the investment estimate. 1.8 billion in equity and the other half in loans and grants. We will try to raise half of the equity capital through InnoEnergy’s European investor network. Currently it is not in place, but they have a list of interested parties. – How safe is this really? – We don’t have the capital in place yet, so there is still uncertainty. We just have to establish that, says Bye.
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Norwegian Crystals is one of the few in Europe that produces raw material for solar cells and panels – news Nordland
