June 15 (Renewables Now) – Belgium’s Umicore (EBR:UMI) will get EUR 125 million in debt from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a new cathode materials factory in Poland that will be supplying the electric vehicle (EV) market.
The loan will help the investor cover about 50% of the overall project costs in the initial phase, the lender said when it announced the agreement on Monday.
The Belgian materials technology and recycling group will install the new production facility in the town of Nysa, southwestern Poland, planning to offer the cathode materials to lithium-ion battery makers for use in EVs. The products will be supplied both in the region and globally.
This is the EIB’s first debt financing deal with Umicore. “The trend towards the electrification of the automotive industry is gaining ground and in this context it is important to develop a European capacity across the full value chain of electric vehicle battery production,” said Teresa Czerwinska, EIB’s vice president overseeing operations in Poland.
In line with the battery industry’s expansion, the EIB plans to lift its support for battery-related projects to over EUR 1 billion (USD 1.13bn) this year, which is equal to its entire level for such schemes over the past 10 years.
(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.125)
