An update on West Midlands Gigafactory in Coventry: planning permission endorsed
Warwick District Council and Coventry City Council have resolved to approve outline plans for a Gigafactory which will result in £2.5bn (around 2.9 billion euro) investment, creating up to 6,000 new highly skilled jobs.
The UK will have its largest gigafactory. Coventry’s West Midlands Gigafactory has got green light in the last days and its construction will start soon: here’s the post in which we described the ambitious project. Now, Warwick District Council and Coventry City Council have resolved to approve outline plans for a Gigafactory which will result in £2.5bn (around 2.9 billion euro) investment, creating up to 6,000 new highly skilled jobs directly alongside thousands more in the wider supply chain in Coventry, Warwickshire and the surrounding region.
West Midlands Gigafactory in Coventry: 530,000 square meters facility
Production ready from 2025, the 530,000 square meters facility will manufacture high-tech lithium-ion batteries for the global automotive and energy storage industries. The Gigafactory will have capacity to deliver up to 60 GWh by the end of the decade. West Midlands Gigafactory is a public-private joint venture between Coventry City Council and Coventry Airport Ltd. It has support from a unique alliance of West Midlands industrial groups, local government and academic institutions. Powered by 100% renewable energy, plans for the Gigafactory include one of the UK’s largest rooftop arrays of photovoltaic panels to harness solar power to operate the factory. The site includes facilities to store any excess solar energy for use when its needed.
«This is an important milestone for the West Midlands Gigafactory. With outline planning permission supported, the site has everything in place that future investors, likely to be drawn from the global battery industry, need for a state-of-the-art Gigafactory. Thanks to this decision, we are now in strong position to progress our discussions with the global automotive and energy storage industries», commented Mike Murray, Project Director. «Located at the heart of the UK’s automotive industry, the Gigafactory is closer to almost every car manufacturing plant in the UK than any of the other proposed or Gigafactories under construction making it an ideal location for global battery manufacturers».
