The European Investment Bank (EIB) has approved a loan request from Northvolt that will see the bank provide a financing facility of up to US$64.8 million to support Northvolt’s pilot demonstration facility.

Intended to “kick start concrete projects”, the European Commission is set to allocate a further €200 million (US$235.53 million) towards supporting the scale-up of lithium battery manufacturing on the continent.

Heating and cooling uses more than half of Europe’s energy, but the potential “immense value” of thermal energy storage has barely been explored, the head of an energy storage trade group has said.

32 separate projects in smart grid, energy storage and related technologies which received backing through a European Union innovation programme, will pool knowledge and expertise in a shared network.

Four makers of lithium-ion batteries have been sanctioned by the European Commission for anti-competitive practises, with three incurring fines totalling €166 million (US$176 million) after colluding to “avoid aggressive competition”.