The financing is an important part of the $5 billion debt financing raised for the expansion of the gigafactory in Skellefteå, announced January 15.
The expansion is expected to increase the annual output capacity for battery production to up to 60 GWh. The deal is the largest green loan raised in Europe to date and will facilitate the creation of a fully integrated circular battery production facility that has not previously existed outside Asia.
$500 million (€453.6 million) of the EIB’s financing package is provided under a guarantee issued by the Swedish National Debt Office Riksgälden, with a further $400 million (€362.9 million) guaranteed under the European Commission’s InvestEU program. Finally, $138.7 million (€126.1 million) of the full $1.0387 billion package will be provided in the form of intermediated lending to Northvolt via participating commercial banks.
In 2018 the EIB supported the roll-out of Northvolt’s demo-line with a €52.5 million loan supported by the European Union’s InnovFin program, later followed by a loan of $350 million (€319 million) for the first phase of the Northvolt Ett gigafactory, backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the predecessor of the InvestEU program.
The operation also contributes to the goals set out in the Green Deal Industrial Plan, which aims to provide support to scale up the EU's manufacturing capacity for the net-zero technologies required to meet Europe's ambitious climate targets.