EC okays Hungary funding Korean plant

The European Commission (EC) has greenlit Hungary extending EUR 24 million in state aid towards the expansion of a South Korean firm’s factory that makes copper foil for electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Volta Energy Solutions is investing EUR 206 million in upping the operational capacity of its plant in Transdanubia, central Hungary. The expansion of the factory of Volta – a subsidiary of South Korea’s Solus – began in 2020 and should be completed this year. The revamp will double production and create around 200 new jobs.

The EC ruled that the plant was eligible to receive regional aid because it is located in a less developed region. With the decision the EU in effect sidestepped the recent “end of validity” of its “Guidelines on Regional State Aid for 2014-20” regulations that occurred on 31 December.

Hungary’s government has regularly invested to secure investments in the EV battery industry in recent years. The EC approved EUR 90 million in state aid to South Korea’s SK Innovations towards the firm’s battery plant in Komarom, north Hungary, last July.

South Korea is Hungary’s fourth largest corporate investor and has helped make it the world’s fifth largest EV battery exporter, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after meeting his South Korean counterpart in Paris in October.

Source: EC Press Corner