FREYR Battery and Nidec Corporation, a globally leading producer of high-efficiency electric motors and a leader in the energy storage systems (ESS) space, have established a downstream joint venture, now called Nidec Energy AS. The newly established Nidec Energy aims to develop and supply highly competitive, integrated battery energy storage solutions (BESS) and products with low environmental impact.
Mass production is expected to commence in 2025, with the ambition to manufacture more than 8 GWh per year of battery modules and packs from 2027, and 12 GWh per year by 2030. FREYR first announced a broad partnership with Nidec in August 2022. The formation of this joint venture catalyzes a firm sales contract under which FREYR will supply Nidec with 38 GWh of next-generation, clean battery cells from 2025 – 2030. (Earlier post.)
Nidec Energy’s module production is expected to be integrated into FREYR’s Giga Arctic development, with volumes of integrated ESS solutions aligning with the company’s targeted ramp up of cell production in 2024. In addition, the joint venture is expected to invest more than $127 million by 2030, and eventually employ more than 300 people, the majority of whom will be based in Mo i Rana, Norway.
As one of the prerequisites to establishing the joint venture, a package of 24M Technologies (24M) sample cells was sent to a leading independent third-party laboratory for testing on behalf of Nidec. The purpose of the testing was to measure the capacity, charge, and discharge profiles of the cells, in addition to technical performance, to confirm that the operation of the cells was consistent with the specifications and data provided by FREYR.
Key results from sample cell testing:
The sample cells exhibited top quartile gravimetric energy density performance for LFP graphite batteries.
Characterization analysis demonstrated very similar behavior across the cells, and behavior remained stable across several cycles with relatively low variability across the sample pool, which provided a positive indication of cell quality.
The cells exhibited best-in-class performance for thermal stability, indicating robust safety characteristics.
FREYR has commenced building the first of its planned factories in Mo i Rana, Norway and announced potential development of industrial scale battery cell production in Vaasa, Finland and the United States. FREYR intends to install 50 GWh of battery cell capacity by 2025 and 100 GWh annual capacity by 2028 and 200 GWh of annual capacity by 2030.