A public meeting on the planned investment in Šurany in early September. (source: The town of Šurany )
The construction of a €1.2-billion battery factory – commonly referred to as a "gigafactory" – in Šurany, southern Slovakia is facing surging local opposition. The factory, which is a joint initiative by the Chinese group Gotion and the Slovak company InoBat and would be the first of its kind in Slovakia, is strongly opposed by residents who fear an excess of truck traffic, pollution and foreign workers. They have organised a petition against the plan and are calling on Prime Minister Robert Fico to stop the whole project.
“The societal damage done will be irreversible and there is no longer room for vague attitudes from any of us,” the civic initiative Chránime si naše (We Protect Our Own) writes in an open letter, as quoted by the SITA newswire, adding that so many mistakes and unfair practice have been observed that the usefulness, environmental friendliness and safety of the whole project cannot be guaranteed.
Some thousands of inhabitants of Bánov, Šurany and the surrounding villages, as well as inhabitants of towns and villages from all over Slovakia, have already signed a petition opposing the proposed plant. Its initiators are convinced that the state’s declared public interest is in absolute contradiction to the interests of the inhabitants of the affected area and that the risks associated with the investment, whether environmental or health-related, are disproportionately greater than its anticipated benefits.
In response to the open letter, GIB EnergyX, a joint venture formed by InoBat and Gotion, a supplier to Volkswagen, said it understood that its investment plan had generated concerns.
“Our project is in full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and established limits,” it wrote. “We believe it will bring significant economic and technological benefits to the region, while maintaining the highest standards of environmental protection and safety at all times.”
The bumpy arrival of Slovakia's first gigafactory
The arrival of the first major battery plant in Slovakia has been bumpy. At first, not too many manufacturers were interested in building a plant to make batteries for electric cars in Slovakia, despite that fact that Slovakia produces the highest number of cars per capita in the world, and enjoys the title ‘automotive superpower’. Later, the exact location became a problem; a site near Šurany finally turned out to be the most suitable.
Factories producing car batteries need relatively flat ground over a large area, good infrastructure in the form of roads and railways, proximity to car factories – as batteries are heavy – and above all a stable and powerful source of energy. In Šurany's case, the nearby Mochovce nuclear power plant is able to amply satisfy the latter need.
However, several investors eventually turned their noses up at Šurany. Among them was Volkswagen, which wanted to build a gigafactory in the region. The Chinese giant CATL chose Hungary to build its largest battery factory in Europe. Its first investment is supposed to be worth €4 billion, the second one should be valued at up to €6 billion.
