SKIET to start commercial operation of its first separator plant in Europe

South Korea’s SK IE Technology Co. (SKIET), SK Innovation Co. 's battery material business subsidiary, plans to start commercial operation of the company's Poland plant, its first battery separator production base in Europe, this quarter to aim for the world’s largest electric vehicle market.

SKIET held an opening ceremony for its first lithium-ion battery separator plant in Silesia Province, Poland, on Oct. 6. The factory, which kicked off test production in August, is able to produce 340 million square meters of lithium-ion battery separators, enough for more than 300,000 EVs.

The company is building another plant with the same capacity to be started in 2023. It also began construction for two more factories that have a capacity of 430 million square meters each in July.

SKIET set aside 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) for those four plants to produce up to 1.54 billion square meters of battery separator by 2024 in the country, the largest battery separators production capacity in Europe. The company’s total global capacity is set to grow to 2.73 billion square meters.

The European EV battery market is forecast to fivefold to 410 gigawatt hours (GWh) in 2026 from 82 GWh this year, ramping up demand for separators, according to IHS Markit.

“We will provide our product not only to battery companies in Poland but also those in Europe such as Hungary and the United States as well, contributing to vitalization of the European EV market,” said SKIET CEO Rho Jae-sok.

Write to Jeong Min Nam at peux@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.