Swedish lithium-ion manufacturer Northvolt has announced it will invest $200 million (£142m) in building what is claimed to be Europe’s largest battery facility.

The 50,000 square-metre factory, which is expected to start production next year, will be built in Gdańsk, Poland, in two stages, with an initial output of 5GWh.

That could potentially increase to 12GWh.

Peter Carlsson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Northvolt, said: “Securing battery cell manufacturing capacity in Europe is key for its industrial future, but what is equally critical is the industrial capacity for integrating cells into real-world solutions.

“It is this that the new factory will deliver, sophisticated, sustainable energy storage systems to support the transformation of Europe’s electricity grid and its industry.”