Latest news with #Britishvolt
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Northumberland data centre construction timeline revealed
The timeline for delivery of a £10bn artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing data centre has been published as part of new planning applications for the site at Cambois, near Blyth, in Northumberland, from US firm QTS say the first phase of so-called enabling works has a target start date of late on the first phase of the data centres themselves is set to begin next year.A further four phases are slated to follow, with the final one completed in 2035. Those timescales are subject to securing future planning permissions, documents sayBy the time it is completed, the site will total up to 540,000 sq m (5,812,512 sq km) of internal space, as well as the likes of substations and other associated permission for the facility, which will include 10 buildings, was granted in first phase of the project covers the south and south-western portion of the former Blyth Power Station of that stage alone is not expected to be completed until 2029, the Local Democracy Reporting Service is a data subsidiary of investment giant has previously said the development would create more than 1,600 jobs, including 1,200 long-term construction addition, it was estimated a further 2,700 jobs would be created across the wider local site had previously been home to Britishvolt, which had intended to build a £3.8bn battery factory for the electric car the company collapsed in 2023 leading to the loss of more than 200 jobs. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Time of India
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
How can India safeguard its battery industry from the fallout of a global trade war?
Amid the global stock market and policy turmoil caused by Trump's rollout - and subsequent 90-day pause of reciprocal tariffs - the initial consensus was that its impact on India will be relatively muted. Chinese goods will incur a tariff rate of up to 145per cent , whereas goods from India and other countries will now attract a flat 10per cent rate. The automobiles and auto parts sector are exempt from reciprocal tariffs, but will have a separate 25per cent tariff rate. However, with China recently placing restrictions on exports of rare earths and key technologies, it could have a potential impact on India's battery ecosystem. Given the implications of these tariffs in reshaping global supply chains, India's electric vehicle (EV) and battery industry needs to respond quickly, both to remain competitive and capitalize on these emerging shifts. With the US market becoming increasingly difficult to access for foreign companies, and the Trump administration's priorities shifting away from clean transport, Asian battery giants are likely to pivot towards the rest of the world - including India, given the overcapacity across the battery supply chain. Given that global cell companies are increasingly building manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia, there is likely to be healthy competition between Indian and SEA cell manufacturers since India has an existing Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with the ASEAN region. Companies in South Korea also benefit from the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between both countries. Both of these agreements ensure zero duty lithium-ion cell imports into India. With India's battery manufacturing industry still at a nascent stage, it is crucial for the government and private sector to collaborate and ensure that the industry continues to grow, and supports new jobs, exports and domestic value creation. Learn from high-profile Global North failures by forming JVs with Asian battery giants. There have been high-profile failures recently in the battery cell industry, such as Northvolt in Europe and Britishvolt in the UK, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2024 and 2023 respectively. Northvolt had raised US $15 billion and had supply agreements with major OEMs, such as Volkswagen and BMW, but was still unable to scale up production. These failures highlight the technological and economic complexity faced by companies other than some of those in China, South Korea and Japan in manufacturing cost-efficient and reliable battery cells. The main takeaways from the Northvolt debacle was its lack of focus towards core business segments and aggressive geographical expansion plans without building the right foundation, leading to overstretched resources, labor shortages and operational inefficiencies. A study from Volta Foundation found that the fastest and most reliable way to set up and scale battery cell manufacturing is through joint-venture partnerships with leading global companies. Given the recent thaw in India-China relations, New Delhi should encourage partnerships between domestic companies and Asian battery companies that can support skills and technology transfer, as well as line automation and a qualified, competitive and reliable supply chain. These JVs should be ideally majority owned by the domestic company to ensure technology transfer and the development of local know how. The EU has been mulling over new guidelines requiring international companies to transfer intellectual property and technology in return for accessing subsidies to set up battery plants on the continent. Targeted public support can play a key role The Indian government has implemented several policies that helped kick start battery cell manufacturing in India. The Cabinet approved the production-linked incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cell batteries (PLI-ACC) in May 2021, allocating ₹18,100 crore to create a manufacturing capacity of 50 GWh. However, progress has been mixed, with a recent media report claiming that only ₹24 crores has been disbursed so far to PLI ACC winners, less than 1per cent of the estimated ₹2700 crores which should have been spent by now. India could potentially dilute some of the stringent localization requirements under the PLI-ACC scheme, which mandate a beneficiary must achieve a domestic value addition of at least 25per cent within two years and 60per cent domestic value addition within five years. Given the lack of a well-developed battery ecosystem, it will be crucial to come up with a realistic localization requirement and speed up fund disbursements given the heavy capex requirements of the industry. It could also extend the PLI benefits to a more diversified ecosystem of companies, particularly in the midstream segment, such as cathode and anode manufacturers. Encouragingly, the government has exempted import duties on raw materials and 35 capital goods used in battery cell manufacturing in the recent budget. It has also permitted the duty free import of li-ion battery scrap, which is an important step to promote refining capabilities in the country. This should help domestic cell companies become more competitive and get access to the entire value chain. The Indian government can go further by playing the role of an offtaker and seed initial demand by incentivizing the use of Made in India li-ion cells and batteries in specific use cases controlled or influenced by it . Some examples can be electric buses or BESS systems, which will ensure guaranteed demand for domestic battery cell manufacturing companies in the future. Furthermore, the government could incentivize faster EV deployment to create a larger market for domestic cell companies. EVs accounted for just under 50per cent of new car sales in China in CY 2024, which is the world's largest car market. The penetration level in Europe was 23per cent while the US's was around 10per cent . Total EV sales penetration in India across vehicle categories reached 7.8 per cent in FY 2024-25. Without strong consumer demand, even the most well thought-out plans on manufacturing and technologies will not get traction. While the Indian government has rolled out the PM E-Drive scheme to support EV deployment, it could consider supply-side policies, such as ZEV mandates, which require automakers to sell a certain percentage of EVs each year relative to their total sales, and played a crucial role in driving EV uptake in China. Increased manufacturing efficiency will be key for the private sector Indian li-ion cell companies must focus on building their manufacturing processes so as to reach a 95per cent + efficiency level within the first few years, before focusing on supply chain localization. Their initial focus should be to reduce the variability in the processes and supply chains of their international technology partner and the lines coming up in India. Cell companies should also work closely with automotive OEMs by receiving early feedback on cell specifications and shortening the turnaround time for cell qualification. The increase in tariffs by the Trump administration shouldn't be seen as one-off, or limited only to the US. Developing countries, such as India, will need to navigate growing trade barriers from advanced economies on the one hand, and China's dominance in manufacturing batteries and clean energy technologies on the other. With a large market and innovative startups, India is well placed – how adeptly it is able to unlock this potential will determine the future of its cell and battery industry. (Disclaimer- Siddharth Goel works as an Independent Consultant specializing in electric mobility and battery supply chains. Dev Ashish Aneja works as the head of cell supply chain at Ather Energy. The opinions expressed in this publication are entirely those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ETAuto.)
Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Times
UK economy boosted as USS invests in Blackstone data centre plan
Britain's largest private sector pension fund has emerged as a backer of the £10 billion data centre project that has taken over the site of Britishvolt's ill-fated attempt to build a gigafactory in Northumberland. The Universities Superannuation Scheme plans to invest as much as £250 million over time in the Blackstone-led initiative and has already made an initial, undisclosed investment in the plan. It comes after Blackstone acquired the land, which was previously home to the old Blyth power station, last year after the collapse of the start-up Britishvolt in January 2023. Britishvolt had ambitions to use the derelict site to construct a £3.8 billion plant that would have supplied battery packs to hundreds of thousands of electric cars every year. It was championed by
BBC News
03-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Cambois data centre: The history of site pegged as new AI hub
The future of a failed gigafactory site is to be decided when plans for a £10bn artificial intelligence (AI) data centre go before has long been hoped the land in Cambois, Northumberland, would be used to boost the local economy but previous plans to build an electric car battery plant ultimately fell had vowed to create 3,000 jobs at the gigafactory but went bust before it could make good on its were renewed last year when investment firm Blackstone bought the site to create a massive data centre, which local leaders are betting will create an economic boom in the county. A Northumberland County Council planning officer has recommended the 540,000sq m (133 acre) development be approved when it goes before councillors at a meeting on decision could change the landscape and economy of Cambois for decades. Britishvolt's collapse Britishvolt's original plans to create a £3.8bn factory had been hailed as a "levelling up" opportunity by the previous Conservative government and was seen as part of the country's long-term plans to boost electric car in 2022 the company was hit by a number of major setbacks, which it said included "rampant inflation and interest rates" and rising energy meant the already-delayed production of its batteries was pushed back until company's financial pressures led to it searching for a new owner able to keep it afloat, but in January 2023 Britishvolt collapsed into firm Recharge Industries stepped in and bought Britishvolt out of administration but in April last year plans to build the factory were finally abandoned. What is a data centre? The land was eventually bought by QTS, a data company owned by investment giant Blackstone, in May firm has promised to invest £10bn to build a series of data centres - large warehouses containing servers able to provide huge amounts of computing wants the Northumberland centre to be used by the growing artificial intelligence approved, the project is expected to create about 1,600 direct jobs, including 1,200 in is hoped a further 2,700 jobs will be created by tech firms moving to the county to take advantage of the new part of the deal, Northumberland County Council has also received £110m from Blackstone in exchange for removing a buy-back clause on the Cambois site, which had required the land to be used to build a has said it aims to begin construction in 2026. The project has been met with mixed views from the public with those objecting concerned about how noise and dust created by the construction work will impact objection said the buildings might lead to a loss of natural light due to the data centre overshadowing other properties. Those in favour have hailed development of the brownfield site as an opportunity for economic County Council's deputy leader Richard Wearmouth is among those supporting the plans and has described them as "game-changing", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service."Obviously I cannot prejudge the views of the planning committee on March 4, but this project is simply colossal investment in Northumberland and the UK more generally," he said. "It would be the biggest artificial intelligence data centre in western Europe, with a build cost of £10bn and the end user, a company such as Facebook or Microsoft, likely to invest a further £5-10bn."He has been joined in his support by local Labour leader Scott Dickinson, who said it should be viewed as an "exciting development"."I hope that the site's history with Britishvolt and unfulfilled promises does not foster excessive scepticism among residents," he said."There is no doubt this is an opportunity for Northumberland to emerge as a leader in technology." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
UK battery start-up Volklec unveils plans for £1bn gigafactory
Volklec, a UK start-up supported by former Britishvolt investors, is collaborating with a Chinese supplier to establish a 10GWh gigafactory with an investment of more than £1bn ($1.26bn) . The Coventry-based company, backed by Frontive Group, plans to avoid past pitfalls of other battery manufacturers by securing customers and batteries first, before moving to construction. The gigafactory project aims to revitalise the UK's battery manufacturing sector. Volklec has signed a technology and knowledge transfer agreement with China-based Far East Battery, a subsidiary of Far East Smart Energy, to leverage its engineering, manufacturing expertise and raw material supplies. Volklec will manufacture advanced lithium-ion batteries in the UK. A delivery partnership team of specialists from FEB in China will support production, due to begin later in 2025, from Volklec's launch base at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC). The company aims to raise £1bn to construct a 10 gigawatt hours (GWh) factory, creating 1,000 jobs by 2030. If successful, it would become the country's only large-scale independent battery manufacturer following UK battery manufacturer Britishvolt's collapse in 2023. Volklec executive director Phil Popham stated: 'There is an urgent need for new independent manufacturers to secure the battery supply chain in the UK. There is no greater transformation today than the electric revolution in transport and mobility, and the British start-up scene is thriving, from motorsport to heavy-duty off-highway and most things in between. 'But there is a substantial gap in the supply chain. The UK is particularly strong in the specialist and high-performance sectors which need surety of supply with quality and reliability. Our mission is to help these innovators thrive.' Volklec plans to initially begin producing cylindrical nickel-rich battery cells for e-bikes and energy storage, followed by the production of power cells for the automotive, aerospace and marine sectors. Volklec will use UKBIC's existing 100 megawatt hours line to manufacture the energy cell, with a further 1GWh line to be installed by the end of 2026 for power cell production. The company is in negotiations with potential customers, intending to serve low-volume manufacturers who are unable to build their own gigafactories. "UK battery start-up Volklec unveils plans for £1bn gigafactory" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
