Verkor breaks ground on French battery gigafactory
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Verkor has started construction of its battery gigafactory in Dunkirk, France.
The Prime Minister and other members of French Government laid the foundation stone of the Verkor gigafactory in Dunkirk, which is being built with €659m support from the French government and direct and indirect support for the project of up to €600 million from the European Investment Bank. This is part of the €2 billion financing package announced by Verkor last September.
In the presence of French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, Minister of Energy Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Delegate Minister of Housing and President of the Urban Community of Dunkirk, Patrice Vergriete, President of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand and Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB, Verkor officially inaugurated the construction of the Gigafactory
The gigafactory will be operational by 2025 with an initial production capacity of 16GWh/year, creating approximately 1200 jobs and 3000 indirect jobs. The industrial project positions Verkor as a major partner for mobility and stationary storage companies across Europe.
- Verkor to build first gigafactory in Dunkirk
- Renault signs long-term battery partnership
- €2bn to launch battery gigafactory
In September Verkor announced the company had secured €2bn in funding through a Series-C of €850m with the EIB and French government support as part of the research and development and innovation (RDI framework).
The Hauts-de-France Region and the Urban Community of Dunkirk are also financing €60m and €30m respectively.
Benoit Lemaignan, CEO of Verkor said: “Dunkirk was not chosen by chance. We can feel the creative energy of all the players involved in this project, inspiring us, and pushing us forward! Today marks a decisive step for Verkor, of course, but also for the European energy transition and the reindustrialisation of France. Providing thousands of jobs in France, the Verkor site will supply much more than just low-carbon batteries. The laying of this foundation stone is a concrete expression of our determination to accelerate the decarbonisation of transport by building a resilient and sustainable European battery value chain.”
Patrice Vergriete, Delegate Minister of Housing and President of the Urban Community of Dunkirk, declares: “This investment marks an important step in the establishment of the French electric battery champion in our region, which alone will create 1,200 direct jobs by 2025. A symbol of the Dunkirk area’s renewed attractiveness since its official opening in February 2022, this project reinforces the development model we have been promoting since 2014 for a low-carbon industry of the future.”
- Verkor buys Siemens site for battery R&D Lab
- Nidec deal for stationary storage systems
- Dassault to supply digital twin of battery gigafactory
Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France Region said: “Verkor’s new site is very good news for the Hauts-de-France region. Because it will create jobs, of course, but also because it is recognition of our economic strategy and our commitment to Rev3, the third industrial revolution. Here, we manufacture batteries, but not only batteries. Here, we manufacture the future, we manufacture confidence, we manufacture optimism. This is the real challenge of this plant, the real challenge of the economic and industrial transformation of our region. But it’s also about job creation. In addition to the 60-million-euro investment to build the plant, the Region is also investing in training. 80 million for 2023 alone, with an original program called Electro’Mob that will enable us to meet this challenge. Welcome to Verkor in Hauts-de-France.”
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank said: “As the European Union’s Climate Bank, the EIB is fully committed to the promotion of an autonomous, strategic and competitive Europe. After the recent financing of several other electric battery projects like Northvolt’s pioneer Gigafactory in Sweden, and the support of Verkor in the financing of its innovation centre in Grenoble, the EIB is proud to contribute to the construction of this new site of a budding, transformative automotive sector in the Hauts-de-France region. This support is further proof of our commitment in favour of European players, who, like Verkor, are slated to become leaders in this new ecosystem of clean, no-carbon mobility.”
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