We caught up with Birger Steen, CEO of lithium-ion gigafactory company Freyr Battery, about its recent decision to minimise European investments in light of the Inflation Reduction Act, discussing a potential policy response and its approach to ESS and using conventional technologies.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked up to US$3.5 billion of new capital for battery manufacturing, a week after European gigafactory company Freyr announced it would only be scaling in the US for now.

American Battery Factory has started construction on its gigafactory in Arizona, US, which will produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells.

Verkor, a company building a lithium-ion gigafactory in France, and system integrator Nidec ASI will together produce up to 10GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to 2030.

China-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech has announced a new US$2 billion gigafactory in Illinois, US, targeting the EV and energy storage system (ESS) markets.

European gigafactory firm Northvolt has started producing battery energy storage systems (BESS) at its Northvolt Dwa facility in Poland, while also securing a US$1.2 billion convertible note.

Since the Inflation Reduction Act, US$270 billion of US clean energy investment has been announced while downstream projects in development have hit 185GW – 80% and 92% higher than four months ago.

Energy Vault and Kore Power have announced a master supply agreement (MSA) which will see Kore supply 1.3GWh of US-made batteries in 2025, potentially rising to 7GWh by 2027.

A US$12 million Series B2 has been raised by California-based battery analytics firm Peaxy, which specialises in “first mile data challenges”, a spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news.

Lithium-ion battery and energy storage system (ESS) manufacturer Microvast has announced plans to set up an ESS manufacturing plant in Colorado, US, which will be operational this year.