Finnish Battery Chemicals Oy, a project company of Finnish Minerals Group, has submitted an EIA programme concerning a battery cell production plant to the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for Southeast Finland (ELY Centre), which acts as the project’s coordinating authority. The submitting of the programme launches the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure.
According to the EIA programme, the project will examine an implementation option with an annual production capacity of 60 GWh. In addition, a 0 option where the project is not implemented will be included. The planned capacity would meet the needs of up to more than one million fully electric cars annually.
The battery cell production plant is planned to be established in an approximately 140-hectare area in the Keltakallio industrial area in Kotka. The location is next to the CAM plant that is already planned in the same area.
”The cell production plant would entail a significant investment in the Kotka-Hamina region even on a national scale. Besides the cell production plant, the preparations for a precursor materials plant and a CAM plant are also underway in the region. These plants would give a considerable boost to the region’s economy for decades to come,” says Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group.
“The prevalence of electric cars in Europe is growing rapidly, and the battery value chain is developing at a fast pace. According to Hietanen, the cell production plant is a natural continuation to the other projects related to the development of the battery value chain.
In a cell production plant, cathode, anode, electrolyte and separator are assembled to manufacture battery cells. In the next phase of the battery value chain, at the assembly plant, ready-made cells are combined into modules. Subsequently, modules are assembled to create battery systems, which can be used in, for example, electric cars and energy storage solutions.
Source: Finnish Minerals Group