Norwegian battery firm plans $2.6 billion plant in Georgia

ATLANTA

A Norwegian company will build a giant electric battery factory just southwest of Atlanta, company and state officials have announced, investing up to $2.6 billion over multiple phases.

Freyr Battery said it would build an initial plant that would produce batteries that could hold 34 gigawatt hours of electricity each year.

Among battery plants currently operating, that would be the second-largest worldwide, behind a factory owned by Panasonic and Tesla in Nevada.

Freyr CEO Tom Jensen told attendees at the announcement in the Atlanta suburb of Newnan that the company’s vision of using renewable energy to make batteries could play an important role in reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation and transportation.

The company’s initial plan is targeted toward storing electricity produced by renewable sources and releasing it later, but Jensen said sales to vehicle makers could also be included.

The company said it plans an initial investment of $1.7 billion, and would hire 720 people at a site it has purchased in an industrial park near Newnan, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta.

Freyr, named for the Norse god of peace and fertility, rain, and sunshine, is also building a large factory in northern Norway and is planning a battery cell production facility in Vaasa, Finland.

The company aims to make batteries, an electricity-intensive process, using renewable energy. In Georgia, that could mean buying electricity from a dedicated solar facility with battery storage run by a third party, the company said.

The company said it sees opportunities in the United States in part because of incentives for renewable energy passed by Congress earlier this year. Freyr said it intends to seek federal grants or loans.