Indonesia-South Korea Battery Factory to Immediately Began Groundbreaking
Karawang, MINA – PT Industri Baterai Indonesia, a joint venture company of several state-owned companies and a consortium of South Korean electronics manufacturers LG, will soon begin groundbreaking a factory in the Deltamas Industrial area, Karawang, West Java.
Investment Minister/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board Bahlil Lahadalia said this process marks the electric vehicle battery cell industry in Indonesia.
According to him, the plan is an important step, because the downstreaming of the metal mining industry is a long and difficult process.
“The work in the future will be even greater to build an integrated battery industry in Indonesia,” he said in a press release on Monday.
The factory will produce batteries with a capacity of up to 10 gigawatt hour (GWh).
The products will be used by electric vehicles from the Hyundai manufacturer.
According to Minister Bahlil, this stage is a follow-up to the signing of the Head of Agreements (HoA) or Principal Agreement for the integrated battery investment project last month.
The integrated electric battery production base is the first in Asia and even the world.
According to Bahlil, there will be integrated mining, smelter, refining facilities as well as precursor and cathode industries to electric battery production facilities.
Rhe investment value is estimated at USd9.8 billion or around Rp140 trillion.
According to Bahlil, the project negotiations are quite long.
The MoU was signed on December 18, 2020 in Seoul, South Korea between the Minister of Investment / Head of BKPM and the CEO of LG Energy Solution after having previously made 25 document revisions.
After the HoA was agreed on April 29, 2021, the consortium then carried out a joint study, drafting shareholder agreements, and company establishment agreements.
The three processes are targeted to be completed immediately, so that the factory groundbreaking can be carried out immediately in the near future.
According to him, currently the MoU is being finalized between Hyundai in Cikarang to finalize the joint venture plan (JV) to build a cell battery factory for the electric vehicle.
The investment that will be disbursed for the construction of this factory is USD 1.2 billion.
The factory is planned to occupy 33 hectares of land and absorb 1,000 Indonesian workers.
PT Industri Baterai Indonesia was formed by four state-owned companies, namely Mining and Industry Indonesia (Mind Id), Pertamina, PLN and Aneka Tambang.
Meanwhile, the LG consortium consists of LG Energy Solution, LG Chem, LG International, POSCO and Huayou Holding. (T/RE1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
