ABEE to Build EUR 1.4 Bln Battery Plant in Romania
Belgium’s Avesta Battery and Energy Engineering (ABEE) will build an electric battery factory for the automotive industry in Galati, Romania, an investment estimated at EUR 1.4 billion. The new factory will be built in the Free Zone, on an area of about 60 hectares to be leased by the Belgian company.
The official launch of the huge investment took place on June 27 at the city hall in Belgium’s Ninove. The event was attended by the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo, the Director General of the European Commission, Joaquim Nunes de Almeida, the Romanian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Stefan Radu Oprea, Galati MEP Dan Nica, the Mayor of Galati, Ionuţ Pucheanu, and representatives of ABEE.
The Galati factory will have a capacity of 22 GWh per year. It is also planned to build a battery recycling plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year. The whole project, the largest investment in this field in Romania, will ultimately generate about 8,000 jobs, both in the factory itself and in partner companies.
Regarding the stages of the project in Galati, all the necessary technical and administrative approvals should be obtained by mid-2024, and then in 2024-2025 the production lines will be purchased, and the production facilities will be set up. The factory is expected to become fully operational in 2026.
“One of the priorities of the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism is to boost Romania’s integration into the European battery value chain in line with European policies and regulations in order to create the optimal development framework for electromobility, part of the Green Deal objectives. That is why I welcome the launch of the Romvolt project, which implies the construction of a lithium-ion battery cell factory in Galati, with a total capacity of 22 GW. Besides the fact that we will have a state-of-the-art electric battery factory, the investment will create new jobs and strengthen the industrial ecosystem in our country. Through Romvolt, Romania is making the transition from a consumer state to a producer of lithium-ion battery cells,” stated minister Stefan-Radu Oprea, who attended the Romvolt launch event.
“Before the current transition to renewable energy, we were in the fossil fuel era, at that moment the European Union was depending on oil producing countries, now that we have the transition, the EU has the opportunity to become leader in the battery supply chain and feed its increasing demand independently. This happens by supporting such projects as Romvolt. This is the real meaning of economic independence,” Omar Alsulaiman, Chief Operating Officer of ABEE, highlighted.
“Romvolt is a lithium-ion battery factory project in Galati, with a total production capacity of 22 GWh and a total investment of EUR 1.4 billion. Battery production is crucial for the European Union due to the current market situation where China dominates the global supply. More production capacity is needed in the future to meet growing European demand. Romvolt will supply batteries mainly for the automotive industry, manufacturers Renault/Dacia and Ford being in Romania, but also for the stationary market, as storage is necessary for transition to renewable energy,” an ABEE release said.
Romvolt aligns with the Romanian’s government vision of integrating Romania in the value chain of bateries at the European level and aims to make the country a source of supply of cells in the sustainable batery production and use to the entire Europe.
Also, in May this year, ABEE signed an agreement on an investment in the production of battery management systems in North Macedonia.
ABEE’s portfolio includes integrated solutions for battery design and production. The company already has operations in these areas in Belgium, Turkey and Macedonia. ABEE has partnerships with a number of leading technology companies, including Siemens, Hitachi, Takenada and Prime.
