The Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland (AVI) has granted an environmental permit for the battery materials plant in Hamina, Finland, planned by CNGR Finland. The decision will facilitate a regionally significant investment of up to €500 million, with production expected to start in the next few years.
CNGR Finland Oy is a growing Finnish company that will produce 60,000 tonnes of precursor material (pCAM) per year, including for premium electric vehicle batteries. This will enable the production of around 500,000 electric car batteries (77 kWh) per year.
"Getting the environmental permit is a big milestone for us moving forward,” says Thorsten Lahrs, CEO of the company. “We thank the Kotka-Hamina Region Development Company Cursor, the City of Hamina and our other partners for promoting the project in Kymenlaakso, and we are grateful for the active public debate. The region is becoming a key centre of excellence in the battery sector, which will have a positive impact on the economy and employment."
CNGR Finland's goal is to build a state-of-the-art production facility that utilises the latest technology in the industry. The project has been granted priority treatment in permit procedures to boost the green transition.
"The battery industry is becoming the success story of the decade,” Lahrs continues. “We are playing a key role in building a sustainable and entirely new industry in Finland and the Kymenlaakso region that will benefit from the circular economy. The development of the new industry will be facilitated by, among other things, affordable CO2 -freeelectricity."
Before the environmental permit phase, the plant project has undergone a comprehensive environmental impact assessment (EIA), including an assessment of alternative sites and modelling of the impact on water resources. The assessment was considered to meet the requirements and that the alternatives studied were feasible from an environmental point of view.
In its decision, AVI states that the project meets the requirements for such an activity laid down in the Environmental Protection Act, the Waste Act and the Nature Conservation Act, as well as the regulations issued pursuant to them.
"Active stakeholders and public consultation are an important part of the development and transparency of green transition projects. Monitoring environmental impacts and complying with Finnish legislation are absolute cornerstones of our operations. Naturally, they are also a prerequisite for the granting of an environmental permit by AVI," sums up Lahrs.
The key objective of the battery cluster to be built in the Kotka-Hamina region is to implement sustainable battery production that spans the entire value chain. CNGR Finland is also planning to build a raw material pre-processing and recycling plant at the battery plant. The plant is intended to ensure the most efficient possible reuse of battery metals in the future.
Contact details:
Managing Director
Thorsten Lahrs
thorsten.lahrs@cngr.fi
+358 50 302 7895
Media contacts:
Carita Friman
carita.friman@cngr.fi
+358 40 546 3279