A little over a year after European battery-maker Northvolt formally filed for bankruptcy in Sweden, its factory in Skellefteå is set to host one of Europe’s largest data centers.
In the northern part of the country, Northvolt Ett was the largest battery site in Europe not owned by Asian manufacturers, and accordingly was once meant to be a proof point for Europe’s battery ambitions. The company started construction on the gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries in 2019. It began delivering cells to European automotive customers in 2022, with plans to eventually ramp the factory to 60 gigawatt-hours of output.
Before that happened, however, Northvolt’s finances unraveled. And when the company’s Swedish assets ended up in bankruptcy proceedings, the factory went dark.
California battery startup Lyten, which finalized its acquisition of the site in February, is already in the process of restarting Ett’s cell lines. But to get the factory up to full capacity, and to expand its research and development operations in Sweden, Lyten is looking for more creative means of financing. That’s where data centers come in.
The “Lyten industrial hubs,” as the company is calling them, will leverage existing infrastructure at a manufacturing site for multiple types of industrial manufacturing alongside the battery factory, explained chief sustainability officer Keith Norman. The revenue from that business will support scaling Lyten’s battery manufacturing efforts, he added.
