POSCO Chem to supply materials to Morrow Batteries

South Korea’s POSCO Chemical Co. agreed to provide materials to Morrow Batteries, a Norwegian electric vehicle battery maker, in a move to tap deeper into the European market.

The unit of the country’s steel giant POSCO Co. said on Oct. 25 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Morrow on the development and supply of battery materials. POSCO Chemical plans to supply cathode and anode materials for batteries Morrow will mass produce from 2024. Both companies have been closely cooperating with POSCO Chemical supplying products samples.

“By combining Morrow Batteries’ production technology and POSCO Chemical’s materials technology, we will together lead the European EV market,” said Chung Dae-hun, head of POSCO Chemical’s energy material business unit.

The European battery market is expected to grow fivefold to 410 GWh in 2026 from 82 GWh this year, according to industry sources.

42GWH PLANT TO START OPERATIONS IN Q4 2024

Morrow is building a plant with an annual capacity of 42 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in Arendal, Norway to provide batteries for 700,000 high-performance EVs. The factory, which will be operated only with hydropower, is set to manufacture batteries for EVs and energy storage systems (ESS). The Norwegian company aims to set up a secondary battery value chain along the southern coast of the country with "the world’s most sustainable battery plant," which will begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Its shareholders including Agder Energi Venture, a subsidiary of Norway‘s largest energy producer Statkraft, and Danish pension fund PKA, invested a combined 470 million euros ($545.4 million) in Morrow.

POSCO Chemical aims to supply cathode and anode materials to battery makers in the US, Europe and China.

In August, POSCO Chemical decided to invest 281 billion won ($241.1 million) in the expansion of cathode and precursor plants in China run by two joint ventures between POSCO Group and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, the world’s largest cobalt producer.

The South Korean company also set up a task force in July to establish units in Europe and the US in a bid to further expand overseas markets and diversify its customer base.

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