Economic policy - Ministry hands over funding decision to Northvolt
Despite a budget freeze, the traffic light government in Berlin has released a good half a billion euros for the establishment of the Northvolt battery factory in Heide (Dithmarschen district). A corresponding funding decision has now been sent to the company by the Federal Ministry of Economics, the ministry announced on Sunday. "Securing the funding for Northvolt is an important step towards triggering a major private investment that will create added value and jobs in an industry of the future," said Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck (Greens). "And it is good that we were able to obtain the exemption from the budget freeze." Several media outlets had previously reported this.
According to the ministry, the total amount of funding involved is around 700 million euros. Of this, around 564 million euros will be provided by the federal government and around 136 million euros by the state. The funding is spread over several annual tranches.
According to the information provided, the Federal Ministry of Economics had applied to the Federal Ministry of Finance to release the funds despite the current budget freeze due to the urgency of the final location decision. This has been approved, the Ministry of Economic Affairs also announced.
However, the funding decision is still subject to approval by the European Commission under state aid law. "We are in constructive discussions with the Commission on this," the ministry stated. In order to implement the project, the two local municipalities still need to pass resolutions as part of the urban land-use planning process, which will probably only be possible once the conditions under state aid law have been met.
The Swedish company Northvolt plans to manufacture battery cells for electric cars in a 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 sources close to the project.
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Source: www.stern.de
