As of: March 25, 2024 9:09 p.m
Construction of the Gigafactory near Heide has officially begun. The ceremony on Monday was meticulously organized. Now the real work begins – for the Swedish company and for the region.
When the pile drilling machine has driven the steel pipe a good eight meters deep into the marshland, it’s all over. It takes about two minutes – enough time for pictures of the “buzzing”: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), Sweden’s ambassador to Germany Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson and Northvolt Germany boss Christofer Haux stand at a desk and press a large button together like in a quiz show.
Gigafactory Heide: Story of the departure into the green future
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU), Sweden’s Ambassador Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson and Germany boss Christofer Haux.
They have their hands on top of each other, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing – a perfect picture of setting off together into the green future. It should stand for nothing less, the start of construction of Northvolt’s 4.5 billion euro Gigafactory near Heide – with the “buzzing” and the first pile drilling on the huge construction site has now taken place. On this day, the company puts a lot of effort into telling a big story that is not just about a factory and batteries for electric cars, but about a better, cleaner world, about the future.
The construction site in the area of Lohe-Rickelshof and Norderwöhrden is the second stop for politicians and the journalists on this day. The first is an old farm in Hedwigenkoog, about 18 kilometers away. It’s probably not without reason that it combines the old and the new: a rustic café on one side, a modern bouldering hall on the other. Of course, if you want to go here, you have to be registered and drive your car past the police and security, scan the QR codes and check your ID cards. A dog sniffs bags for explosives and ammunition before the ceremony begins.
Further information
At the start of construction, the Chancellor praised the speed with which the settlement on the North Sea coast was made possible. more
Northvolt wants to be a good neighbor
At the beginning, a film sets the stage: “How can it be more than the sum of its production facilities?” asks a spokeswoman in reference to the factory. Answer: by taking people along, an entire region, an entire country benefits. Northvolt, says Germany boss Christofer Haux, wants to be a good neighbor, because in Dithmarschen there is nothing more important than neighbors. The film ends with: “Northvolt three – a factory for change”.
Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson makes it clear that this is needed, describing it as the biggest task to stop climate change – with the help of green transformation. “This is where a climate-neutral industrial country becomes visible,” says Prime Minister Daniel Günther. We learn from him that he went jogging with Carlsson in the morning. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz also sees the big picture: “This is how we ensure added value and technological security.”
Further information
Planning for the huge battery factory has been underway for almost two years. What happened when? We look back. more
Olaf Scholz: “Dithmarschen speed”
Olaf Scholz describes his government’s efforts to speed up the planning and approval of power lines and hydrogen networks, i.e. the energy world of the future. He praises the “consistent decision” of the people on the west coast to rely so early and so strongly on renewable energies – and then also to pick up the pace with the Northvolt settlement. “Dithmarschen speed,” that’s what Olaf Scholz calls it.
This so-called Dithmarschen speed will continue to be necessary. Peter Carlsson says that the region must now also develop in parallel with factory construction: apartments must be created, schools and daycare centers built. “All of this has to happen at the same time,” says Carlsson. Daniel Günther also says there is a lot to do – he immediately speaks to Olaf Scholz about connecting the plant to the Marschbahn.
Further information
Northvolt wants to produce battery cells for electric cars at Heide from 2026. What does this mean for the region? more
Challenges remain
Only three seats away from Scholz, right in the front row, sits Kai Tange at the ceremony. The mayor of Lohe-Rickelshof says he is happy to be able to work in peace again after the hustle and bustle surrounding the Northvolt votes in his community and the neighboring community of Norderwöhrden. “There were no cameras at the last community meeting,” he says and laughs. Tange also believes that a lot has not yet been resolved and speaks, for example, of the 500 to 600 residential units that are needed in his village of 2,100 residents. “Today’s event is nice, we’re looking forward to it, but it doesn’t make the challenge any less,” said Tange.
Boßeln instead of groundbreaking: Northvolt boss Peter Carlsson wants to show proximity to the region.
Electric buses then drive from the farm in Hedwigenkoog to the construction site, followed by the columns of Scholz, Habeck and Günther. Roads are closed, and in some places there are long queues of cars that are unable to make any progress. Before the buzzer and the pile drilling, Boßeln is on the agenda: Scholz and Co. don’t throw individually, but at the same time – almost like a team, of course. At this moment, around 50 tractors belonging to protesting farmers are standing a good 150 meters away and are accompanying the throw with a concert of honking. According to their own statements, their protest is not directed against the project, but against the federal government.
Peter Carlsson visits the neighborhood
In the afternoon, Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson pays a rotating cast of visits to the neighborhood – to a high school, the Heider Umland office and the West Coast University of Applied Sciences. At this time, calm has returned to the construction site.
Things don’t really get started until the next day, when the pile drilling machine will start again at the premiere hole and drive the steel pipe another six meters into the ground. The hole will then be filled with reinforcing steel and cement, giving the 110-hectare factory a secure footing in the muddy, soft marsh with exactly 15,999 additional piles.
Because, as they say, anyone who builds here needs good reasons.
Further information
At #NDRfragt, 79 percent of participants expressed approval for the factory. But there are also many concerns. more
In two years, Northvolt from Dithmarschen wants to deliver the first batteries to the automotive industry – by train. But the infrastructure is missing. The official start of construction for the plant is on Monday. more
This topic in the program:
NDR 1 Wave North | News for Schleswig-Holstein | 03/25/2024 | 4:00 p.m