LG Chem Poland receives a €480 million loan from the European Investment Bank

26 March 2020, 16:28:41

LG Chem Wroclaw Energy will receive a €480 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The money will be used for the construction and operation of highly automated and innovative manufacturing facilities for advanced lithium-ion cells and batteries for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs). The EIB financing will cover around a third of the total project costs, estimated at €1.5 billion. The remainder will come from the company's own resources and from other financing sources.

The production facility will have an annual capacity of over 35 GWh, which can potentially power more than 500 000 zero-emission electric cars per year. The implementation of the new investment programme will enable the company to ramp up its total battery capacity output to ca. 65 GWh, making the Polish facility one of the largest lithium-ion cell factories in the world. Moreover, more than 1 800 jobs will be created at the Wroclaw site, taking the total workforce up to more than 6 000 full-time employees by end-2022.

Teresa Czerwinska, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, who oversees operations in Poland, said: "This first EIB operation with LG Chem Wroclaw Energy is significant for many reasons. It helps Europe to build a critical mass in electric vehicle battery production at a pivotal time of electric vehicle commercialisation in Europe; it promotes a shift to electromobility and to a greener automotive industry; and it helps create new qualified jobs in an industrial region in transition to a new economic model. Today's operation proves that with the right partners and the right projects in place we can combine cohesion objectives with innovation and strong climate action."

Jeong Joon Ha, CFO of LG Chem Wroclaw Energy Sp. z o.o., said: "We would like to express our gratitude to the EIB team. The loan provides our company with the resources to create a competitive battery value chain in Europe and Poland. Furthermore, it enables the LG Chem Group to take the lead in terms of growth of the European battery market and community development."

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