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Norway plant trials anode innovation but North America beckons for scale","vianodes-norway-plant-trials-anode-innovation-but-north-america-beckons-for-scale","article/vianodes-norway-plant-trials-anode-innovation-but-north-america-beckons-for-scale",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":566,"content":576,"excerpt":822,"featured":51,"reporter":823,"_editable":827,"component":828,"seo_title":553,"categories":829,"visibility":841,"author_company":49,"featured_image":842,"seo_description":822,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":846,"formattedArticleDate":847},"65520df0-210d-45cf-b7c0-47684e25d9f1","2024-10-30 00:00",[560,563],{"slug":561,"name":562},"europe","Europe",{"slug":564,"name":565},"vianode","Vianode",[567],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":570},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":571,"image":572,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":573},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":577,"content":578},"doc",[579,586,609,614,619,626,638,643,648,653,658,667,672,677,682,687,692,697,702,707,719,724,729,734,739,750,755,760,765,770,777,782,787,792,797,802,807,812,817],{"type":580,"attrs":581,"content":582},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[583],{"text":584,"type":585},"Benchmark attended the grand opening of Vianode’s second synthetic graphite facility in Herøya, Norway in early October.","text",{"type":580,"attrs":587,"content":588},{"textAlign":49},[589,591,599,601,607],{"text":590,"type":585},"Forecast to contribute 9.4% of Europe’s synthetic graphite supply by 2030, according to ",{"text":592,"type":585,"marks":593},"Benchmark data",[594],{"type":595,"attrs":596},"link",{"href":597,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/synthetic-graphite/data-reports/price-assessments","url",{"text":600,"type":585},", Oslo-registered Vianode is a rarity in a regional industry where 86% of 2030 output will be non-European owned and over half the pipeline is ",{"text":602,"type":585,"marks":603},"Chinese-owned",[604],{"type":595,"attrs":605},{"href":606,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/",{"text":608,"type":585},".",{"type":580,"attrs":610,"content":611},{"textAlign":49},[612],{"text":613,"type":585},"From Vianode’s perspective, North America offers better scaling support. Nonetheless, the company is keen to retain a European presence in order to hone its manufacturing innovations.",{"type":580,"attrs":615,"content":616},{"textAlign":49},[617],{"text":618,"type":585},"CEO Burkhard Straube told Benchmark about opportunities and challenges in the region as well as his company’s North American expansion plans.",{"type":620,"attrs":621,"content":623},"heading",{"level":622,"textAlign":49},4,[624],{"text":625,"type":585},"Herøya as a testing ground",{"type":580,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629,631,636],{"text":630,"type":585},"Under the ",{"text":632,"type":585,"marks":633},"EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act target",[634],{"type":595,"attrs":635},{"href":606,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},{"text":637,"type":585},", at least 10% of the bloc’s annual synthetic graphite consumption should be domestic supply by 2030.",{"type":580,"attrs":639,"content":640},{"textAlign":49},[641],{"text":642,"type":585},"Yet question marks remain over the region’s competitiveness, particularly under current low prices. European synthetic graphite production costs are on average 25.4% higher than in China or the US, according to Benchmark estimates.",{"type":580,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":585},"Despite this, Vianode sees strategic advantages to operating in Norway. Straube cited the country’s engineering expertise and openness to innovation as being vital for the Herøya plant, the first European plant to apply induction technology to synthetic graphite manufacturing.",{"type":580,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":585},"“The real reason Vianode was founded here in Norway is the people and the technology. We came from a tradition of using induction furnaces for other processes, so we adapted this [for making synthetic graphite],” said Straube.",{"type":580,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":585},"Norway also has a large share of hydropower-based electricity, which can mitigate emissions from high-energy graphitisation.",{"type":580,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661],{"type":662,"attrs":663},"image",{"id":49,"alt":664,"src":665,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":666},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/48bd9a56e7/bm-vianode1-1.jpg",{},{"type":580,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":585},"Benchmark attended the grand opening of Vianode’s synthetic graphite facility in Herøya, Norway.",{"type":580,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":585},"At just 2,000 tonnes capacity a year, however, Herøya will be more a technological proving ground and customer qualification plant, at least for now.",{"type":580,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":585},"“Via ONE is the most important scaling step for our technology to substantially de-risk our multi-billion dollar investment in North America. Of course we are in negotiation with customers, and focus on development and qualification, but 2,000 tonnes is not sufficient to become a real partner for an OEM,” said Straube.",{"type":620,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"level":622,"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":585},"North American scale-up",{"type":580,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690],{"text":691,"type":585},"While Europe offers some advantages, Vianode is looking to North America to embark on high-volume production, planning to start production there in 2027.",{"type":580,"attrs":693,"content":694},{"textAlign":49},[695],{"text":696,"type":585},"In order to maximise investor confidence in its North American venture, Vianode wants to demonstrate induction technology on full-scale in its Norwegian plant before using it at scale across the Atlantic.",{"type":580,"attrs":698,"content":699},{"textAlign":49},[700],{"text":701,"type":585},"Unlike its European plants, which will target small market applications and recycling, Vianode plans to focus its North American assets on the large-scale automotive battery sector.",{"type":620,"attrs":703,"content":704},{"level":622,"textAlign":49},[705],{"text":706,"type":585},"Vianode retains EV optimism",{"type":580,"attrs":708,"content":709},{"textAlign":49},[710,712,717],{"text":711,"type":585},"Europe’s battery materials producers face an uncertain time today, with September’s synthetic graphite anode feedstock prices down 34.6% year-on-year, according to ",{"text":713,"type":585,"marks":714},"Benchmark’s assessment",[715],{"type":595,"attrs":716},{"href":597,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},{"text":718,"type":585},". ",{"type":580,"attrs":720,"content":721},{"textAlign":49},[722],{"text":723,"type":585},"European EV demand growth has also been slower than expected, yet Straube sees this as a temporary slowdown that may even benefit the region long-term.",{"type":580,"attrs":725,"content":726},{"textAlign":49},[727],{"text":728,"type":585},"“We do need time to catch up, so maybe that gives us some time,” said Straube.",{"type":580,"attrs":730,"content":731},{"textAlign":49},[732],{"text":733,"type":585},"His certainty rests on the sheer scale of electrification ambitions among Western car makers. Even if they fall short, he believes, Europe and North America would still not be self-sufficient on battery materials by 2030.",{"type":580,"attrs":735,"content":736},{"textAlign":49},[737],{"text":738,"type":585},"“The train has left the station, you cannot stop it,” said Straube.",{"type":580,"attrs":740,"content":741},{"textAlign":49},[742,748],{"text":743,"type":585,"marks":744},"Benchmark forecasts",[745],{"type":595,"attrs":746},{"href":747,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/synthetic-graphite/data-reports/forecast",{"text":749,"type":585}," that ex-China synthetic graphite anode material will enter a persistent deficit from 2027 due to supply growth lagging forecast demand growth.",{"type":620,"attrs":751,"content":752},{"level":622,"textAlign":49},[753],{"text":754,"type":585},"Policy disconnects in Europe",{"type":580,"attrs":756,"content":757},{"textAlign":49},[758],{"text":759,"type":585},"Vianode is the only European company that majority-owns a synthetic graphite pipeline in the region. As a result, its plants will be seen as a barometer for the success of the bloc’s critical minerals policy as a whole.",{"type":580,"attrs":761,"content":762},{"textAlign":49},[763],{"text":764,"type":585},"Yet Straube argues that Vianode has managed to enter operation despite European policy rather than because of it.",{"type":580,"attrs":766,"content":767},{"textAlign":49},[768],{"text":769,"type":585},"“We did receive a good environment here in Europe for research development support, but not good for scaling support,” he explained. “99% of this [plant’s] investment came from our shareholders, so it is not an area which was heavily subsidised.”",{"type":580,"attrs":771,"content":772},{"textAlign":49},[773],{"type":662,"attrs":774},{"id":49,"alt":664,"src":775,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":776},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/336b8285eb/bm-vianode2-1.jpg",{},{"type":580,"attrs":778,"content":779},{"textAlign":49},[780],{"text":781,"type":585},"Vianode’s CEO Burkhard Straube presenting at the grand opening of the company’s synthetic graphite plant in Herøya, Norway.",{"type":580,"attrs":783,"content":784},{"textAlign":49},[785],{"text":786,"type":585},"Straube laid out the disconnect between the EU’s goal of reducing import dependence and the limited incentives it has put in place.",{"type":580,"attrs":788,"content":789},{"textAlign":49},[790],{"text":791,"type":585},"“The Critical Minerals Act says how much raw material we need to have out of our own production, but if nobody can invest, because there is no financing for it, because there is no payback, what do we do?”",{"type":620,"attrs":793,"content":794},{"level":622,"textAlign":49},[795],{"text":796,"type":585},"US-style tariffs offer no easy solution",{"type":580,"attrs":798,"content":799},{"textAlign":49},[800],{"text":801,"type":585},"US industry on the other hand is benefiting from more assertive policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act incentives and tariffs that have effectively “closed” the American market to Chinese exports, according to Straube.",{"type":580,"attrs":803,"content":804},{"textAlign":49},[805],{"text":806,"type":585},"Straube noted that without action, the European market will become the only market where China can release its surplus. Yet the bloc cannot easily imitate the US.",{"type":580,"attrs":808,"content":809},{"textAlign":49},[810],{"text":811,"type":585},"“It is easier for America to put import duties on cars without worrying about an action from China in the same manner as Europe. Europe depends much more on exports than the US does,” he said.",{"type":580,"attrs":813,"content":814},{"textAlign":49},[815],{"text":816,"type":585},"Straube suggests that there are no easy solutions but that without changes to battery buildout policies, European industry as a whole will suffer.",{"type":580,"attrs":818,"content":819},{"textAlign":49},[820],{"text":821,"type":585},"“If we don’t get autonomy and sovereignty over this [the lithium ion] industry, I am very concerned about the European industry. It will depend upon China, and potentially upon America. And that’s not a good position,” he said.","Benchmark attended the grand opening of Vianode’s second synthetic graphite facility in Herøya, Norway in early October. Forecast to contribute 9.4% of Europe’s synthetic graphite supply by 2030, according to Benchmark data, Oslo-registered Vianode is a rarity in a regional industry where 86% of 2030 output will be non-European owned and over half the pipeline […]",[824],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":825},{"job_title":571,"image":826,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},{"filename":573},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"65520df0-210d-45cf-b7c0-47684e25d9f1\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[830,832,835,838],{"slug":831,"name":263},"anode",{"slug":833,"name":834},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":836,"name":837},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":839,"name":840},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":664,"name":664,"focus":664,"title":664,"source":664,"filename":843,"copyright":664,"fieldtype":844,"meta_data":845,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/593580c4d7/bm-vianode3.jpg","asset",{"alt":664,"title":664,"source":664,"copyright":664},"Oct 30, 2024","30th October 2024",[],[],1792773895082]