FREYR completes NOK 130 million financing for Norway’s first lithium-ion battery cell facility
On July 1st, FREYR successfully completed NOK 130 million of pre-construction financing of the first lithium-ion battery cell (LIB) facility in Norway with significant local and regional support. The proceeds will be used to complete the concept and technology selection process and enable a rapid development of the 2 GWh Fast Track battery cell manufacturing plant in Mo i Rana. FREYR will build a strong customer base in the Electric Vehicles, Stationary Storage, and Marine Application segments and further strengthen the rapidly expanding organisation.
“We are very pleased with the commitment from our new investors who share our vision of FREYR developing the first large scale battery cell production facility in Norway. We are increasingly confident that Norway has the potential to become a global leader in battery cell production to satisfy the rapidly growing demand across multiple markets,” said Torstein Dale Sjøtveit, the Executive Chairman of FREYR. “This strong interest is also a recognition of our position as an early-mover with a favourable location and a strong, differentiating partnership model enabling us to rapidly unlock highly advanced battery cell facilities in Europe.”
Rana municipality, which will be the home of FREYR’s initial battery cell manufacturing facilities, and Helgeland Invest, a regional investment company set up to promote local value creation, and a total of 40 professional and private investors joined forces in the pre-construction financing through a NOK 117 million private placement of new equity and the conversion of a bridge facility from the spring of 2020, bringing the total financing to NOK 130 million.
In April 2019, FREYR announced its ambition to build large scale battery cell manufacturing facilities in Norway. The planned facilities may become one of the largest production sites in Europe, supplying lithium-ion battery cells (LIB) to the equivalent of 600,000 electrical vehicles per year. FREYR will unlock this capacity through partnerships leveraging best available battery cell and production technology. FREYR has furthermore signed initial agreements with globally leading companies for supply of renewable energy, raw materials, equipment and technology, as well as various critically important supporting frame-agreements for project management support under construction, the highest digitalisation and system integration for automatization and further optimisation to enable deeply cost competitive battery cell production.
“FREYR’s ambition is to make Norway a global leader in this exponentially growing, energy-intensive industry by leveraging 100% renewable electricity at low prices, sustainably sourced raw materials and deep expertise in energy-intensive and highly automated process-intensive industries,” says CEO Tom Einar Jensen in FREYR. “We are now progressing towards technology selection and offtake agreements which will unlock the development of the 2 GWh Fast Track facility as planned. We will furthermore accelerate the expansion of the FREYR team to complement our inhouse capabilities and partnerships already in place to deliver on our ambitions.”
The equity raised will be used to complete the final design for the Fast Track facility through final technology selection and customer retention. FREYR is targeting construction start of this initial facility in the second quarter of 2021 on a ready-to-develop ‘brownfield’ location in Mo Industrial Park in Mo i Rana. The Company is also evaluating two greenfield sites in the municipality for the subsequent 32 GWh two-phased giga-factory development. Initial investigations show that both sites are suitable for large scale battery cell production. The area offers access to an existing hydropower surplus and a considerable untapped potential for wind power at globally competitive prices. There is sufficient local cooling water as well as regional benefits related to near ideal ambient temperatures, process industrial competencies and Mo i Rana is part of the Trans-European transport network including highways, railroad, and access to an industrial ice-free port. The land-licensing process is underway.
Clarksons Platou Securities AS and SpareBank 1 Markets AS acted as Financial Advisors and joint lead Managers for the private placement. Following completion of the equity raise and the registration process of the new shares, FREYR shares will be available to trade on the NOTC marketplace and FREYR intends to apply for a listing at a recognized marketplace in the next 12-18 months.
FREYR AS:
Tom Einar Jensen, Chief Executive Officer, tom.jensen@freyrbattery.com
Hilde Rønningsen, Director of Communications, hilde.ronningsen@freyrbattery.com
FREYR is a Norwegian company planning 32+2 GWh lithium-based battery cell factories and a 600 MW wind park in the municipalities Rana and Nesna in Nordland, Norway. The company will supply products to the rapidly growing market for electric vehicles and energy storage in Europe, as well as develop other markets within the segments of marine transportation, aviation and offshore oil through cluster-based R&D initiatives with leading Norwegian and European institutions and companies. For more information, see the home page at: freyrbattery.com