The administrators of the Britishvolt project, which was canceled due to financial problems, have stated that they are still trying to collect money from the Australian purchaser and are looking at other possible deals.
According to EY, Recharge Industries remains “in default” one year after agreeing to purchase the site in Cambois (Northumberland) where Britishvolt previously stated it wanted to build an industrial facility.
Administrators said that they had “held discussions” about the site with other potential purchasers. Northumberland County Council has reportedly set aside £15million to purchase the land in case it is needed.
Britishvolt made ambitious promises, even though the project didn’t go anywhere. The company claimed that it would bring 8,000 new jobs to the area and supply a Gigafactory for batteries for electric vehicles — something considered vital for Britain’s future car industry.
In exchange for meeting certain milestones, the government had promised to grant about £100,000,000. however collapsed at ‘s start of the last year .
In February last year, after Britishvolt went into administration , EY reached an agreement with Recharge Industries for the Australian battery startup to purchase the site for under £10 million. Recharge missed some payments last summer.
The joint administrators are in discussions with additional parties that have indicated an interest in purchasing the proposed site for the gigafactory in Northumberland.
The administrators stated that “negotiations were ongoing”, but “they could not provide more detail commentary due to the commercial sensitivities of these negotiations”.
BBC reports that Northumberland councillors voted in favor of a “strategic purchase fund” worth £15 million, which would allow the council the ability to control the land. Britishvolt initially purchased the site for £4.8million.
Scott Dickinson is the leader of the Northumberland County Council’s opposition Labour group. He said that it would be embarrassing if the county council purchased the land for a price higher than what it was sold for.