Honeywell and FREYR Battery announced they have signed an agreement pursuant to which FREYR will, subject to viability, leverage Honeywell’s technology offerings, including integrated automation, field instrumentation, and security integration solutions in its manufacturing process. As part of the collaboration, Honeywell will purchase 19 GWh of battery cells produced by FREYR from 2023 through 2030 for a multitude of energy storage systems applications.
Through the agreement, Honeywell and FREYR intend to provide smart energy storage solutions to address the needs of a wide range of commercial and industrial customers. Subject to viability, FREYR will leverage Honeywell’s broad automation and software expertise including automation systems, quality assurance and controls, and industrial software to provide manufacturing capacity at scale in Europe and the United States.
According to Honeywell and FREYR, the battery cells produced through this project can be utilized by “behind-the-meter” or industrial locations, as well as “front-of-the-meter” locations like large solar and wind renewable power generation sites.
“Battery storage will play a crucial role as organizations transition to clean power generation,” said Tom Einar Jensen, FREYR’s CEO. “Today’s announcement is also an important milestone as we advance to a potential first half 2022 final investment decision on our first Gigafactory in Mo i Rana, Norway.”
Battery energy storage systems (BESS) technology development could be vital to the continued decarbonization of global power systems. According to a recently published research report by Stanford University, the US power grid could reach 100% renewable power penetration by 2050. This new cost-competitive electricity mix would rely largely on solar, wind, and hydro development, as well as energy storage technology. According to the study, BESS would spearhead this trend and could reach total installed capacity of 15,700 GWh by 2050.
“Introducing decarbonized storage solutions at scale across multiple geographic markets is vital to our continued sustainability efforts and in turn, helps to make renewable energy accessible and efficient,” said Ujjwal Kumar, president and CEO of Honeywell Process Solutions. “This collaboration will pair FREYR’s next-generation battery solutions with Honeywell’s 20 years of lithium-ion battery industry know-how and established routes to markets and customers.”
Honeywell has committed to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations and facilities by 2035. The work Honeywell is doing with FREYR builds on the company’s track record of sharply reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of its operations and facilities as well as its decades-long history of innovation to help its customers meet their environmental and social goals. About half of Honeywell’s new product introduction research and development investment is directed toward products that improve environmental and social outcomes for customers.
