Battery sector | Solus asks for public assistance

The South Korean joins other companies that have already turned to Quebec and Ottawa

Julien Arsenault
The Press

After spending 81 million to take over the former Circuit Foil Luxembourg factory in Granby, Solus Advanced Materials, which wants to swell the ranks of the battery industry, is asking Quebec and Ottawa to finance its project estimated at several hundred million dollars. .

A subsidiary of the South Korean company, Volta Canada Energy Solutions has just retained the services of seven lobbyists from KPMG to take steps with Investissement Québec – the financial arm of the Québec government – ​​and Innovation, Sciences et Canada Economic Development.

The sums requested from the two levels of government have not been specified.

“This funding could take the form of a grant, or another form, if applicable,” reads the entries published this week in the Quebec Lobbyists Registry.

The Solus project – one of Tesla’s suppliers – would fill a hole in the battery industry in Quebec by producing copper foil. These enter into the manufacture of the anode, the negative pole of the lithium-ion battery found in electric cars.

It was not possible to obtain comments from the multinational.

Last March, the Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, estimated that it was an investment of 200 to 300 million. The project, if it materializes, would constitute the most important investment so far in the battery sector outside of Bécancour – the place favored by Quebec to develop this sector.

So far, the Legault government has agreed to financially support players like BASF and Posco to convince them to come and settle in the province. In both cases, the total amount of financial support has not been precisely determined.

“Serious” project

Solus has owned the plant, located on rue du Luxembourg, since March 31, according to the deed of sale consulted by The Press. The building’s footprint is 90,000 square feet. Its former owner, Richard Normandin, told The Press that the promoters were “serious”.

“They want to quadruple the area of ​​the building,” he said in a telephone interview. It’s a very big project in Granby. At the price paid, they are serious. »

According to our information, the Solus project is the subject of a study for connection to the Hydro-Québec network. The company should have no problem obtaining the necessary energy, since the requested block is less than 50 megawatts.

Construction work should begin around July. Solus aims to start production in the second half of 2024.

Operation ceased in 2005 at Circuit Foil Luxembourg. Very limited activities continued until 2014. The Quebec State had injected 104 million into this project between 1999 and 2003. The plant produced copper sheets for the printed circuit board market.

With the collaboration of André Dubuc, The Press