Northvolt has obtained the green light from the Legault government to move forward with the construction of the first buildings of its battery cell mega-factory in Montérégie – a project valued at 7 billion.
More precisely, the ministerial authorization issued on Wednesday concerns the battery component manufacturing plant as well as the development of rainwater management systems.
“This is the second authorization that we have given,” underlined the Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, at a press scrum in Quebec. We are coming to construct buildings, but there will be additional authorizations required for activities. »
Overall, the Swedish company must obtain around ten ministerial authorizations before the commissioning of its complex in 2027.
A first authorization was obtained by the company on January 8 in order to carry out preparatory work (felling trees and filling in wetlands). Some 14,000 living or dead trees were felled and 13 hectares of wetlands were affected.
With the exception of the portion of its complex which will involve battery recycling, the other facets are not subject to the procedure of the Office of Public Hearings on the Environment, a treatment generally reserved for large industrial projects. This process includes public hearings.
“It’s a process that could have compromised the project itself,” admitted Mr. Charette, referring to the BAPE.
Northvolt will be located on a 170-hectare plot of land that straddles Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville. There it will manufacture cathode materials – the positive pole of a lithium-ion battery – as well as cells, the final step before assembling the batteries.
The second government authorization issued to Northvolt comes with requirements regarding the control of dust and noise emissions, the management of contaminated soils as well as harmful effects on wildlife species.