Swedish battery producer Northvolt will receive €902 million in German state aid, as Brussels makes its first use of more flexible state aid rules to prevent investment from being diverted away from Europe.
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00:00 The European Commission has approved state aid measures of almost 4 billion euros to
00:08 support the green technology sector.
00:10 The biggest single project comes from Swedish battery producer Northvolt, who secured 902
00:16 million in German state aid to build an electric vehicle battery production plant in the north
00:21 of Germany.
00:22 According to Executive Vice President Margrethe Westergaard, in charge of competition, the
00:27 plant would accelerate the EU's green transition and reduce fuel dependencies.
00:31 The German aid was necessary, as without it, Northvolt would build the plant in the US,
00:36 Westergaard said.
00:37 "Either we could do nothing, and we know from internal documents of Northvolt, and then
00:45 the investment would have taken place in the US, or we can enable that a member state can
00:52 match the aid in order for the investment to take place here."
00:56 German economy minister Robert Habeck praised the approval as a part of a strategy to bolster
01:01 European industry as a whole.
01:04 "And imagine we would be completely dependent in forms of renewable energy from the production
01:10 of China or the US batteries, semiconductors.
01:14 That is a threat for the future.
01:15 So the investments we are talking about are investments in our economic security."
01:22 The plant will have an annual capacity of 60 gigawatt, which translates to 800,000 to
01:27 1 million electric vehicles per year, depending on the size of the battery.
01:32 Production will start in 2026 and will reach full capacity in 2029.
01:36 (whooshing)
01:39 (whooshing)