Dive Brief:
- Freyr Battery called off plans to build a $2.57 billion battery cell manufacturing plant in Newnan, Georgia, saying the facility is no longer part of its “strategic goals,” the Norway-based company said in a letter last month to Coweta County officials.
- Initially announced in 2022, the facility would have created 723 jobs with first-phase production of approximately 34 gigawatt hours, according to an initial project announcement.
- The decision to scrap the Newnan plant comes a month after Freyr acquired Trina Solar’s 5-gigawatt solar module manufacturing facility in Wilmer, Texas, as it pivots to establish a commercial presence in the U.S. solar market, according to a November 2024 presentation.
Dive Insight:
Trina Solar announced it was investing more than $200 million to establish the Wilmer plant in September 2023. About a year later, global banking company Standard Chartered secured a $235 million green loan to finance the development and construction of the 1.35-million-square-foot plant.
Once it’s completed, the Wilmer facility will create up to 1,500 jobs and source polysilicon from the U.S. and Europe, according to Trina Solar’s September 2023 press release. The site will also have seven production lines, Freyr’s SVP of Communications Amy Jaick said in an email. Production on the plant began Nov. 1, 2024.
The company has taken further steps to implement its U.S. solar module strategy. Freyr announced on Feb. 10 it selected Austin, Texas, as its new global headquarters. The location brings the company closer to the Wilmer site, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Freyr is also currently developing a 5 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in the U.S., Jaick said. Freyr plans to announce the plant’s location in the coming months and production is expected to begin in the first half of 2026.
The company expects to spend $850 million on the new facility as well as create 1,800 jobs, according to the presentation.
The Wilmer plant and solar cell factory are expected to be fully eligible for Inflation Reduction Act production tax credits, which Freyr plans to apply for. However, the future of the tax credits under Trump is unclear, given the president’s vocal opposition to the subsidies.
