“We’ll go to Emden later.” A year and a half after announcing a letter of intent with the German town of Emden, Livista Energy has finally chosen Le Havre, France as the location for its first lithium refinery. The project, due to start up in 2028, aims to produce enough lithium to power the batteries of 1.5m electric vehicles a year, making a significant contribution to Europe’s electric vehicle supply chain.
Le Havre was chosen for this project because of its industrial infrastructure, with regional renewable and nuclear energy production, a skilled and recognised workforce, and the port’s transport links to facilitate the distribution of lithium to the main players in the European battery market.
“Recycled materials will progressively grow until potentially becoming its main source of feedstock for the plant by 2035 ensuring a positive environmental impact and ramping up Europe’s energy independence,” stated the issued on 7 November to mark the public announcement of the land award, which was attended by, amongst others, France’s minister of partnership with territories and decentralisation Catherine Vautrin; the French minister delegate for transport François Durovray; and the minister of the economy, finance and industrial and digital sovereignty Antoine Armand. The former prime minister of France and current mayor of Le Havre Édouard Philippe was also present.
Three ministers and a former prime minister announced the facility, which is financially supported by the French state. Photo: Livista Energy
The project is expected to generate up to 300 direct local jobs, 250 outsourced jobs and more than 1,200 indirect jobs. Livista Energy has received significant support from the French government: the French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) has confirmed the project’s eligibility for the “C3IV” tax credit, and the public sector investment bank Bpifrance has confirmed the project’s eligibility for the “strategic projects guarantee,” providing a guarantee from a French national bank for the construction financing.
The founder of Livista Energy, Roland Getreide, and its CEO, Daniel Bloor, had announced their intention to open four refineries in Europe and a research centre in Luxembourg.
This article was originally published in .