Envision AESC is now also planning a battery cell factory in Spain. This is part of a larger strategic agreement between the Envision Group and the Spanish government. The battery factory is to be built in the Spanish city of Navalmoral de la Mata and will be operational in 2025 with a capacity of up to 50 GWh.
The overall project includes a gigafactory for batteries, a digital net-zero centre, a green hydrogen plant and an assembly plant for smart wind turbines in different regions in Spain, according to Envision. The battery factory is planned in Navalmoral de la Mata in the Extremadura region of western Spain. Navalmoral de la Mata is located about halfway from the capital Madrid to the Spanish-Portuguese border.
Like Volkswagen’s battery factory in Sagunt near Valencia, the Envision AESC plant is to be subsidised through Spain’s PERTE programme. In return, the battery factory will become part of the “VENERGY+” project, which consists of 12 partners from ten autonomous communities in Spain, according to the announcement. It will localise the supply of vehicle parts and components using advanced technologies and integrate them into the battery ecosystem. The possible funding amount is not mentioned in the announcement.
The battery factory is expected to create up to 3,000 jobs. Envision AESC does not give any further details in the announcement – it is primarily about the overall project. More precise time schedules, the type of battery cells produced there and also possible customers are therefore not yet known.
On the other hand, it is certain that the plant for the production of green hydrogen will be built in the central Spanish region of Castilla-La Mancha – here, too, there are no details yet on the timetable or the exact scope of the plant. Plants for the assembly of smart wind turbines are also to be built in Castilla and the Leon region in the north-west of the country.
“We are fully committed to supporting Spain’s national agenda on net zero transition,” says Envision CEO Lei Zhang. “The creation of new industrial opportunities such as the Net Zero Industrial Park will unlock the vast potential of renewable energy in Spain and serve as a gateway to building a pan-European greentech industrial ecosystem.”
The battery factory in Spain joins Envision AESC’s growing list of battery projects: in China, the company is building a battery plant with an annual capacity of 20 GWh. A joint battery factory with Nissan in Japan was announced in August 2021. Plans for factories in Sunderland, UK and Douai, France (including for Renault and Nissan plants there) were last adjusted in 2021. Finally, this April, the construction of a US battery factory in Kentucky was announced.
Keyword: Envision AESC is building another battery plant in Spain