Article categories: Archive News
The City of Vaasa Continues the Negotiations with Grafintec Oy and Epsilon Advanced Materials Separately
Published: 26.9.2022
The city of Vaasa had to agree to formally end the prior Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Grafintec Oy and Epsilon Advanced Materials on the GigaVaasa plot reservation since it was based on the companies’ cooperation agreement, which was terminated at the end of August. The City of Vaasa will continue the negotiations with each of the companies separately.
– As the cooperation agreement between the companies was cancelled, the battery anode material plant planned in the Memorandum of Understanding could not be established in accordance with its original contract. Therefore, we had to formally end the planned reservation and the Memorandum of Understanding for the plot to continue negotiations with both companies separately, explains Tomas Häyry, Mayor of Vaasa.
– Neither of the operators has withdrawn from the project, and discussions on developing the GigaVaasa area and constructing a battery value chain will continue, Häyry adds.
Finnish company Grafintec Oy and India-based Epsilon Advanced Materials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the City of Vaasa on 11 January 2022 to build a plant in Vaasa to produce anode materials for the battery industry. The stock exchange release on 25 August announced the termination of the cooperation agreement between the companies.
GigaVaasa Area Timeline:
April 2021: First reservation for the GigaVaasa area: Johnson Matthey selected Vaasa as the location for a sustainable battery materials plant.
August 2021: FREYR Battery selected Vaasa as the location of a battery cell plant; a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed for a 90-hectare plot.
November 2021: Johnson Matthey announces the sale of its battery materials business. However, Vaasa continues negotiations with the company’s new owner.
January 2022: Grafintec Oy and Epsilon Advanced Materials sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Vaasa to build a plant to produce anode materials for the battery industry in the GigaVaasa area.
January 2022: FREYR Battery’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) commences.
May 2022: FREYR Battery and the City of Vaasa enter into a fixed-term lease agreement for 130 hectares of land.
August 2022: Grafintec Oy and Epsilon Advanced Materials terminate their cooperation agreement. Discussions with the City of Vaasa continue.
September 2022: The memorandum of understanding with Grafintec Oy and Epsilon Advanced Materials must be formally terminated after the end of cooperation between the companies to initiate new negotiations with the companies on the plot concerned.