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Teesside factory cleared in victory for the North: Tees Valley Lithium wins planning permission to build Europe’s largest refinery
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‘Thumbs up our caps’: Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen
The government’s leveling agenda has gained momentum after Tees Valley Lithium secured planning permission to build Europe’s largest refinery on Teesside.
The £250 million factory, which will supply the fast-growing electric battery industry, is expected to create 1,000 jobs.
It will start producing 96,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide by 2025, a key component of batteries for almost all hybrid and electric cars, and is expected to be able to meet 15 percent of total European demand.
It’s the latest push for Tees Valley, which has Britain’s only operating free port, a post-Brexit plan to create ten duty-free, regulated industrial areas.
And it comes after Company Secretary Grant Shapps visited Teesside this month to unveil the UK’s first lithium refinery to be built by Trafigura-backed Green Lithium.
PD Ports’ £600m lithium refinery at Teesport will also create 1,000 jobs during construction and 250 when commissioned in 2025.
BP is moving ahead with plans to build the UK’s largest green hydrogen plant on Teesside. And the South Korean Seah Wind is investing 300 million pounds in a large wind turbine factory.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen praised ‘another feather in our cap’, adding: ‘It’s great for British business, let alone Teesside, which has had a tough ten years with the steelworks closing and thousands of jobs lost. It’s another example of how Teesside is a place where you can see leveling in action.”
It comes just three weeks after plans to make the North East a hub for green jobs and the battery industry were hit when Britishvolt, a battery company planning to develop a £3.8 billion factory, received emergency funding for five weeks this month from the commodities giant Glencore secured after preparing to appoint managers in October.
Houchen said lithium production is critical to moving to zero-emissions driving by 2050. The government wants to strengthen the supply chain for electric vehicles before the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is banned in 2030.
Lithium is key. It is used to make batteries for electric vehicles and for wind and solar installations. About 90 percent of global lithium processing takes place in China, and there are no refineries in Europe.
Alkemy, owner of Tees Valley Lithium, said permission was a “critical step” towards creating an entirely new industry in Europe.