The big industrial family

Energy-intensive and pioneering process industry has helped shape Kristiansand and the rest of the region for over 100 years. Industrial companies such as Elkem and Glencore Nikkelverk are locomotives in the business community and contribute to growth and new establishments. Elkem has its research center and development environment for solar and battery research here. It is no coincidence that the business clusters GCE NODE and NCE EYDE, which organize the service industry for the offshore industry and the country's largest process industry companies, respectively, have their main base in the region. The companies in NCE Eyde have an annual turnover of around NOK 44 billion and employ over 6100 people.

The battery coast
Battery technology is currently one of the region's most important ongoing industrial development projects. The process industry in the Kristiansand region has become a national spearhead in the development of important components for the battery industry. Elkem Advanced Materials has its pilot plant for testing components for the next generation of high-efficiency batteries in Kristiansand. Elkem has ambitions to become a major supplier of graphite for battery anodes and is researching the use of silicon in batteries that can multiply capacity. Neighboring Glencore Nikkelverk, a major producer of nickel, cobalt and copper, is aiming to produce cathode material for the battery industry.

Since 2016, the Eyde cluster has led several battery research and development projects and has close contact with European R&D environments, including through participation in the "Batteries Europe" project. For more information on the ecosystem around the battery initiative. See the attached note from NCE Eyde.

Green manufacturing
The Joint Battery Initiative has a clear objective of contributing to the production of batteries for the automotive industry with the lowest possible emissions. With green power in material production, a green port, and a short distance between raw material suppliers, the battery factory and the market for the end product, the CO2 footprint is smaller than that of many competitors. But a favorable climate balance for battery production requires that batteries are given a new life after death. This is what 'Batman' aims to contribute to. Batman is a research and development project in which Elkem, Glencore, Fiven, Hydro and Agder Energi are collaborating with UiA to develop a value chain for recycling and material recovery of old batteries. With this initiative, and Morrow's planned establishment of a battery factory in Arendal, everything is in place for the Kristiansand region and the region to become the country's competence hub for battery production and recycling.

Data storage
Among other energy-intensive industries is Bulk Infrastructure's Campus N01 data center, which is located at Støleheia, close to Kristiansand Energy Park. Bulk is a developer and operator of Nordic data centers, fiber networks and industrial buildings, and has transatlantic fiber-optic cables. The transatlantic cable Mermaid is established together with Google, Facebook and Aqua Comms.