A Swedish battery company will be given a massive subsidy by the EU to build a battery factory in Schleswig-Holstein. The batteries produced there will be used by for electric vehicles; the project is part of the push for Net Zero in the EU.

Many thanks to Hellequin GB for translating this article from the daily news program Tagesschau. The translator’s comments are in square brackets:

EU approves subsidies

Northvolt battery factory can be built

The Swedish company Northvolt is permitted to build a large battery cell factory in Schleswig-Holstein near Heide as planned. The EU Commission approves subsidies worth €900 million.

The Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt can build its planned factory in Heide in Schleswig-Holstein. The EU Commission has approved the proposed funding for the billion-dollar project, it announced today. According to the commission, without the subsidy, Northvolt would have chosen a location in the USA.

“This €902 million measure is the first individual aid approved to prevent an investment from moving outside Europe,” said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The EU wants to produce more strategically important technologies such as batteries and semiconductors itself in order to become more independent from third countries such as China and the USA. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) emphasized: “I am very, very happy that this is happening today.” [I wonder how much of that money ends up in his offshore account and in gold bullion?]

3,000 new jobs

The Northvolt company was also pleased: “The EU Commission’s positive aid decision is groundbreaking not only for Northvolt’s settlement project in Heide, but for the European battery cell industry as a whole,” said a company spokesman. “We are now waiting for the municipal decisions as part of the ongoing land use plan process.”

Northvolt wants to produce battery cells for electric cars in the factory in the Dithmarschen district. According to the EU Commission, the plant in Heide will be able to produce batteries for 800,000 to one million electric cars per year. Production is scheduled to start in 2026 and reach full capacity in 2029. The €4.5 billion investment is expected to create 3,000 jobs. The company has already invested around €100 million of its own funds in the construction project in Heide, according to people close to the project.

Location advantages in Schleswig-Holstein

The federal and state governments are funding the project with around €700 million. There are also guarantees for a further €202 million. Of the funding, around €564 million go to the federal government and up to €137 million to the state. The funding is spread over several annual installments. The federal government released a funding decision in December. It was subject to state aid approval from the EU Commission.

The project will be the largest industrial project in Schleswig-Holstein in decades. Northvolt had always emphasized the locational advantages of the west coast. A lot of wind power is generated there on land and at sea, which the factory needs in large quantities.

Afterword from the translator:

Priorities, priorities… but not for a country’s food security. Tells you everything, doesn’t it? Money for reactor research or agriculture would have brought more to the country than toxic and environmentally hazardous batteries with a penchant to blow up when they get a slight knock. But that’s not a problem, because there will be most likely a vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free and low-calorie halal sticker on those batteries and the German people can eat those afterwards.

If you divide the €902 million grants of taxpayers’ money by the new jobs, then each position created costs a mere €300,666,667. My respect. Then, an old friend of mine from Dithmarschen told me that he drives past the construction site every day on the way to work. That in the surrounding villages, special houses and living containers are being built for the workers. His girlfriend has been looking for an apartment for more than three years. And to top it all, this is being built right on the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. How much “greener” can it get?

I hope that the votes for the AfD will go through the roof now.