The Norwegians were the first in Europe to import-substitute the production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Recently, the first factory in this part of the world to produce advanced batteries was officially opened there. The production capacity will be 1 GWh per year with promising multiple growth to an impressive 43 GWh per year by 2028.
Example of prismatic batteries
Four years ago, Morrow Batteries proposed building a plant to produce Europe’s first LFP batteries. The city of Arendal in southern Norway was chosen for this purpose. Construction began about two years ago, and at the end of 2023 the company began sending out product samples to interested customers. The plant was officially put into operation on August 16, 2024 in the presence of the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. Commercial production will begin towards the end of this year.
At the first stage, the plant will produce LFP batteries for energy storage systems from small to utility scale. The batteries will be produced in a prismatic form factor characteristic of this type of battery. Subsequently, the company promises to move to the production of more advanced “next generation” lithium-nickel-manganese-oxide (LNMO) batteries, which contain less lithium and do not have cobalt in the electrodes, and also plans to produce batteries for mobile devices.
Battery production plant in Norway. Image source: Morrow Batteries
Production is planned to expand significantly by 2028. It is planned to create three more production sites, each of which will produce up to 14 GWh of batteries per year. This is a great move not only for Norway, but also for the European market, which suffers from the dominance of Chinese-made batteries.