Money Meets Power As The UK Gigafactory Race Begins
The race to build the UK’s first gigafactory has now begun.
Three months after the £2.6B Blythe gigafactory plan was backed by mining giant Glencore, the rival 5.4M SF West Midlands plan has now secured an adequate power supply producing up to 60-gigawatt hours a year. But there is no news of a funder.
“By submitting our planning application earlier this year, and now answering the difficult question around power supply and renewable energy, we are doing what we can to be able to get the site operational ASAP once a commercial negotiation between supplier and customer concludes,” West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said.
An outline planning proposal for the West Midlands gigafactory — intended to provide batteries to replace petrol and diesel motor engines — was submitted in July and the application is yet to be decided.
The £2.5B project will be powered by a major boost to the local energy network, giving the gigafactory access to a renewable electricity supply, from a combination of solar power and grid-supplied renewables. The West Midlands gigafactory will be able to recycle used batteries as well as build new ones in an industry-leading approach known as 'cradle to cradle'.
In August 2021 the rival Britishvolt proposals for Blythe, in the north east, won backing from Glencore, one of the world’s leading suppliers of the cobalt, copper and nickel that battery technology requires.
The UK auto sector will stop producing petrol and diesel engines in 2030.
