Lockheed Martin and the Romanian company Sinteza S.A. signed a letter of intent on Wednesday for the construction of a GridStar Flow battery factory in Oradea, with zero carbon emissions, enabling the production of sustainable and stable energy.
It will be the first factory of this kind in Europe and the largest in the world.
The estimated project of 50 million euros is expected to benefit from 25 million euros in non-repayable European state funding through Romania's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), as announced by Profit.ro.
This month, the Ministry of Energy approved five projects for the construction of battery manufacturing, assembly, and recycling units, following the evaluation of EU non-repayable funding requests for such investments under the PNRR.
The agreement sets the framework for the parties to initiate the development process of a future factory worth 50 million euros, which will produce 30,000 tons of negative electrolyte per year starting from the summer of 2026. This will be the first factory of this kind in Europe and the largest in the world, as stated in a press release by Sinteza S.A..
GridStar Flow is an innovative redox flow battery designed to promote the accessibility and sustainability of clean energy. Manufactured in Andover, Massachusetts, and designed for the future of the energy sector, GridStar Flow operates with zero carbon emissions and enables the production of sustainable and stable energy.
The total budget of the state aid scheme is 75.76 million euros, with the possibility of increasing it to 149.25 million euros, depending on the evaluation results of the offers.
The highest score (86.5) was obtained by a project to establish a new production, testing, and recycling capacity for the electrolytes used in the manufacturing of industrial batteries for electric energy storage submitted by Sinteza SA Oradea.
The Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, stated in February during a visit to the United States that Lockheed Martin is considering the possibility of building energy storage battery production facilities in our country, according to a statement by the American company.
Lockheed Martin is a supplier of Patriot missile system components and also the prime contractor for the U.S. military's F-35 multirole aircraft.