Bosses at battery start-up Britishvolt have spoken about plans to attract international component manufacturers to a supplier park near the site of its forthcoming Northumberland gigafactory.
Peter Rolton, executive chairman at Britishvolt, told Business Live there was already interest from companies that will produce the parts needed for its batteries that will power the next generation of electric vehicles. Those firms would occupy 200 hectares, adjacent to the 93-hectare former Blyth Power Station coal yards site where Britishvolt is developing the 3,000-job plant.
The ambition means making that part of Northumberland competitive against other European sites where suppliers could choose to locate - a task Britishvolt is investigating with Advance Northumberland. Mr Rolton, whose own engineering consultancy has moved into nearby offices, said: "Our vision for this is not only the factory but all the principle component manufacturers, so you'll have the complete battery eco-system. The UK Government wants that because they don't want a replication of the semiconductor situation which has killed car production.
Read more: Chamber and automotive group tasked to develop North East skills plans
"We've got a nice long list of people who are interested. The grid connection here is a significant reason as to why we're here. The battery manufacturing process uses a lot of electricity - about 10 times that of an equivalent car factory. The availability of that power, along with the port and rail makes this the best gigafactory site in the UK. There's nowhere that comes close to this combination of infrastructure."
He added: "We've brought out own grid connection off the primary one here, with our own substation, which will then all be renewable energy. Because it's a private grid, that energy is cheaper because you lose a lot of non-commodity charges. Currently we have an application with the Secretary of State for an exemption on some of those commodity charges to make the power even cheaper.
"That's really important because when you look at our cost of production and of the component manufacturers they're looking at European location decisions - not UK ones. You've got to get your infrastructure and competitiveness aligned."
Meanwhile, there has been significant interest in some of the 3,000 jobs touted by Britishvolt at the Cambois site. The firm says it has been inundated at early recruitment fairs where parents have brought along school children along to find out more about the opportunities.
At the moment a "core team" of senior engineers and supervisors are working out offices just down the road on Cobalt Park. They are putting together extensive recruitment and training plans for the future workers, to be called "associates" - a name the firm says recognises the level of skill required of employees.
Mr Rolton, who said Britishvolt is committed to upskilling local people without many qualifications, said: "If you go on YouTube and look at lithium cell batteries being made, its not being done in some grotty old factory with stuff being lobbed together, it's in what's like a combination of clean room meets pharmaceuticals. It's very high-tech. The kit costs millions so the machine operator skillset that we need is very, very significant."
In an effort to meet the skills gap, Britishvolt has bought the old M&Co department store building on Ashington High Street, which will host the Britishvolt FutureGen Foundation - a charity that undertake part of the massive training and upskilling exercise needed to fuel the plant's requirements.
Mr Rolton said: "There will be people who come to us, as they're doing now when we have job fairs, who have a CV that's frankly not good enough. There may be people who've skipped school or gone to prison."
He added: "The idea with the foundation is that it will do the basic education levelling up work. It's a charity with its own trustees and we've put someone in charge to run that. People will go there to get basic training without losing benefits and so on, before they come back to us and go to the proper Britishvolt training programme."
There is time for that training undertaking as production is not likely to start before 2025. At the moment the firm, which has ultimate ambitions to float on the London Stock Exchange, is finalising the design of the plant which it says will take another month. Then it will go back to the market for the further investment it needs to realise the plans - a task Mr Rolton admits has been made more challenging given current economic turmoil.
Despite that, the Britishvolt team is adamant it will deliver the much-needed boost for that part of Northumberland. Mr Rolton added: "We see this not just as a factory but as a strategic UK asset, and we will get it built. There's a need for four to eight of these in the UK."
READ NEXT:
