The Swedish investor Northvolt has called on the federal government to quickly clear the way for promised state financial aid for its planned battery factory in Heide, Schleswig-Holstein.
His company now needs clarity on this issue within days, said German managing director Christofer Haux to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. “We have no reason to doubt the federal government’s existing commitments to us, but it is also clear that we are not talking about a solution in weeks or months.”
As the paper reports, citing its own information, it is about state financial aid of 550 million euros, which was previously supposed to come from the climate transformation fund. According to the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, it is unclear whether and how the money can actually be made available. The judges had declared the reallocation of funds in the federal government’s financial planning to be inadmissible.
Meanwhile, the state parliament in Kiel decided on Thursday with an urgent motion to withdraw promised state funds of up to 137 million euros from a Ukraine emergency loan if the funds have to flow in the current year. Parliament had previously declared a budget emergency for 2023 and 2024.
As the newspaper further reported, citing informed circles, a recently announced 600 million euro convertible bond from the state bank KfW for Northvolt is said to be unaffected by the ruling of the constitutional judges. Northvolt wants to produce battery cells for electric cars in the factory in Heide from 2026. The 4.5 billion euro investment is expected to create 3,000 jobs. The company has already invested around 100 million euros of its own funds in the construction project in Heide, according to those close to the project.
