The Czech company Tesla has officially announced to the government and local authorities that it is abandoning the project to build the energy storage factory in Brăila, an investment of EUR 90 million that was also to receive state aid, according to G4media.ro.
In an official document of Tesla Group, signed by CEO Dusan Lichardus and sent to the Ministry of Finance, the company shows that the hardship began in June 2024, when global competition in the energy sector intensified, “especially from heavily subsidised Chinese battery manufacturers,” according to the publication Debraila.ro.
The construction of the factory was supposed to begin in 2023, on land in the Brăila Free Zone, with the inauguration estimated to take place in 2025. Tesla investors were also going to receive state aid of approximately EUR 40 million.
“Despite continued efforts to obtain additional financing from shareholders and strategic investors, deteriorating market conditions have made the project financially unviable. The lack of effective trade protection policies at EU level, combined with significant price declines in battery-based energy storage systems, shrinking margins and the bankruptcy of major players, such as Northvolt in Sweden, have made it, overall, impossible to sustain or expand battery production operations in Europe in the current framework,” the Czech company explained, according to the document cited by Debraila.ro.
At the beginning of June 2024, Tesla Energy Storage (Romania), a local subsidiary of Tesla Group, announced that it had submitted the application for the construction permit for the factory it wants to build in Brăila, an investment worth EUR 90 million.
The company announced at the time that it would create 350 jobs and estimated that the factory would become fully operational by the end of 2025, according to Economedia.ro.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Artinun Prekmoung/Dreamstime.com)
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