Quebec terminates Northvolt funding, wants to recover $510M

Quebec is pulling the plug on the Northvolt electric vehicle battery plant and will attempt to recover the $510 million it’s invested into the mega project.

That’s what Quebec Minister of Economy and Energy Christine Fréchette announced Tuesday afternoon.

A guaranteed loan of $240 million had been granted to the Swedish company for the purchase of the land, in addition to an investment of $270 million into Northvolt.

The plant was to be built in Saint-Basile-le-Grand and McMasterville, in the Montérégie.

Quebec believes Northvolt hasn’t presented a satisfactory plan that meets the province’s interests.

With interest, Northolt owes the government approximately $260 million.

The government wants to recover at least the money in the company’s bank account, estimated at $200 million in North America.

And Quebec also wants to get the land back.

Fréchette said the venture has proven unsuccessful, and provincial officials are obviously disappointed.

“Since the company has not presented a satisfactory plan with respect to Quebec’s interests, we are asserting our rights to recover as much of our investment as possible,” said Fréchette.

But the outcome of the project doesn’t mean the end of the battery industry in Quebec, the government says.

“Our industry is very much alive, with several companies active in this ecosystem,” she stated.

She also indicated that the government will conduct an analysis regarding the use of the 352 megawatts of energy that were previously reserved for Northvolt.

This block of energy could be used for other economic development projects, in Montérégie or elsewhere, she said.

Last march, Northvolt filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.

A failure, insists Liberal leader

Reacting to the news Tuesday, Quebec Liberal Party Leader Pablo Rodriguez criticized François Legault’s CAQ government, calling the Northvolt project a “failure.”

“We put all our marbles in the same place,” he said during a press scrum in Sainte-Foy, Que., on the sidelines of a luncheon conference given by former Premier Jean Charest.

“It’s a failure both in terms of planning and execution,” he added.

According to Liberal MP Frédéric Beauchemin, the government took advantage of the day of Legault’s highly publicized testimony before the Gallant Commission to announce the termination of the agreement with Northvolt.

“It’s therefore fitting that a big, big news story, which, isolated from everything else, would have been news that would have circulated for several days, will be lost in the current message,” he said.