AMTE Power has chosen Dundee as the site for a £160-190 million ‘megafactory’ to produce lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets. It described this as a “strong stepping stone towards building gigafactories in the future”.
The Dundee factory, which the company said is expected to be funded by a combination of grant funding, and traditional and government assisted debt and equity, will be able to produce 25,000 batteries per day, generating revenues of over £200 million per annum. AMTE has signed a binding Letter of Intent with Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc for the reservation of the site, ahead of a formal lease agreement to be signed in Q4 2022 and received an indicative offer letter from Scottish Enterprise regarding a potential package of funding. It expects the plant to be in operation by Q3 2025.
AMTE’s batteries are intended for vehicle and home use. On home use, it cites Bloomberg estimates that installations of home energy storage batteries will rise from 6GWh in 2019 to 155GWh annually by 2030.
Kevin Brundish, chief executive, AMTE Power, said: “Battery cells are fundamental to enabling the UK’s energy transition and with this investment, we will play a key role in electrifying the vehicles, homes and industries of the future. The site at Dundee is the ideal location for a MegaFactory; it has local industry knowledge and is close to our current and future market in energy storage. We look forward to updating all stakeholders on our progress.”