Lisbon, Nov. 27, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's minister for the environment and energy on Wednesday called the withdrawal from the lithium refinery in Setúbal "worrying and sad", particularly because it shows a weakened Europe, and called for "great reflection" at national and European level on the issue.
Portugal's diversified energy producer, Galp, has decided to abandon the Aurora project, for a lithium refinery in Setúbal, after Northvolt withdrew and failed to find another partner, it was announced on Tuesday.
There was a 50/50 partnership between Galp and Northvolt, but the latter informed Galp at the beginning of 2024 of its decision to stop investing in Aurora.
"It's another investment that isn't coming to the country, that's worrying, and sad, but it's worrying essentially at European level, because this isn't an isolated case, it means a certain cooling of the market in relation to the area, to lithium, to batteries, and it means a strong push to Southeast Asia, namely China, and a great European difficulty in competing with China," said the minister.
Maria da Graça Carvalho, who was speaking to journalists at the end of a visit to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), said that we need to reflect on how Europe is positioning itself in relation to what is happening worldwide in the area of lithium, the automotive sector, hydrogen and energy.
"We need to reflect, because there are big challenges ahead. If we don't want to become poorer and poorer as Europe, to be an irrelevant continent, we're going to have to (...) adjust policies, let's think about how," said the minister.
In the words of Maria da Graça Carvalho, the withdrawal indicates that a crisis is taking place at European level and European competition, compared to the rest of the world, a ‘critical and worrying’ symptom.
The minister admitted that she wasn't surprised by the news and recalled that, as an MEP, she voted with the PP, her ‘political family’ against car electrification by 2035, because she preferred it 10 years later.
"These are the consequences of that law, and Europe needs to think a little about what it has approved. And have a strategy, without which we will become poorer and poorer, because this is not going to be an isolated case," she said.
"Despite significant efforts, which included assembling a qualified team, carrying out engineering studies, preparing licensing processes and seeking incentives and funding, the current context and the impossibility of relying on an international partner make it impossible to proceed with the project," Galp said on Tuesday.
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