Battery Cell Factory | Second green light for Northvolt

More specifically, the ministerial mandate issued on Wednesday concerns a battery components manufacturing plant as well as the development of stormwater management systems.

“This is the second mandate we have given,” confirmed the Minister of the Environment, Climate Change Control, Wildlife and Parks, Benoît Charette, at a press conference in Quebec. We are coming to construct buildings, but there will be additional licenses required for activities. »

Overall, the Swedish company must obtain about ten ministerial licenses before operating its complex in 2027.

The company obtained the first license on January 8 in order to carry out preparatory work (cutting trees and filling wetlands). About 14,000 live or dead trees were cut down and 13 hectares of wetlands were affected.

Except for the portion of the complex that will include battery recycling, other aspects are not subject to the Office of Environmental Public Hearings process, a treatment generally reserved for large industrial projects. This process includes public hearings.

“It is an operation that could have jeopardized the project itself,” Mr. Charette admitted, referring to BAPE.

Northvolt will be built on 170 hectares of land stretching between the cities of Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. There it will manufacture cathode materials – the positive electrode of a lithium-ion battery – as well as cells, which is the last step before assembling the batteries.