Collaboration is the key to a smarter and cleaner battery
A unique solution in a large collaborative project: Reuse of water for cooling and heating provides value for the city, industry and the environment
Purified waste water, so-called technical water, from Gothenburg residents is used in a unique innovation to cool the production process for future electric car batteries in Northvolt and Volvo Car’s joint venture - Novo Energy’s - gigafactory.
Through a collaboration between the local municipality water, energy and city planning offices, Gryaab, Göteborg Energi, Kretslopp & Vatten, a sustainable future solution is created. Together, they have developed an energy-efficient and sustainable solution that also reduces the environmental impact of Novo Energy's gigafactory for electric car batteries. Using technical water on this scale is completely unique in Scandinavia.
"Both the scale and the pace are unique for a project of this size," says Jonny Karlsson at Annebergs Bygg och anläggning, the contractor who builds together with Kretslopp & Vatten.
The process of making electric car batteries is very energy intense and generates large energy flows and a lot of heat. One of the major challenges for this project was to create an energy-efficient cooling solution.
Two pipes, each 6 km, of which 5 km above ground, will lead 1200 liters of water per second between Novo Energy's factory and Gryaab.
Heat in - heat out, a win for all
The solution is based on using purified waste water from Gothenburg's residents that is pumped from Gryaab to Novo via Göteborg Energi's district heating network and which extracts the heat from the water supplied to the district heating network. The now cold "technical water" is then pumped further into the 6 km long pipes to cool the battery factory. In the cooling process in the battery factory, the water is heated again, to around 30 degrees, and pumped in a return line to Gothenburg Energy to extract the heat once more. In this way, the heat can be used once more to heat homes and offices before the purified water is finally released into the sea.
The new system being built means that the water is used several times and saves a lot of electricity compared to traditional cooling of facilities. The project will also reduce the environmental impact because the lines in most of the route will be above ground, which reduces the need for excavated materials and reduces the impact on land that may be contaminated in several locations.
Do you want to know more about how Business Region Göteborg has helped Nothvolt and Novo Energy in the process of establishing their battery factory in Gothenburg? Contact us and learn more about the All-inclusive, yet tailor made, establishment offer we have for your business!
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Novo's new gigafactory for electric car batteries plans to start production in 2026 at Hisingen in Gothenburg, and at full capacity it will produce batteries for 500,000 electric cars annually. Novo Energy is jointly owned by Volvo and Northvolt.
Explainer picture is from Kretslopp & Vatten.