Galp gave up on the construction of a lithium refinery in Setúbal. The Minister of the Environment, Maria da Graça Carvalho, says it is worrying news and reveals a lack of competitiveness against the Asian market.
On the verge of bankruptcy, having already filed a lawsuit against creditors for recognizing that it cannot pay its debts, Swedish company Northvolt is out of the project. And without finding a new partner for the business, Galp gave up on the idea of making Setúbal a center for lithium exploration.
“It’s another investment that doesn’t come to the country, that’s worrying, it’s sad, but it’s worrying essentially at a European level, because this is not an isolated case, it means a certain cooling of the market in relation to the area, lithium, to batteries and means a great strength in Southeast Asia, particularly China, and a great European difficulty in competing with China”, said Maria da Graça Carvalho, Minister of the Environment.
The investment had been prepared since 2021 for the factory to begin operating in 2026, taking advantage of lithium reserves in the national territory. Everything is now discarded. The Minister of the Environment is appealing for an economic plan, remembering her time as an MEP.
“The European People’s Party, the family to which I belong, we voted against being so quick to electrify the automobile, and this is a consequence of that law. I only found out yesterday, but I have to confess that it was no surprise. We have to To act, we need a strategy, because if we don’t have a strategy we will become increasingly poorer, because this will not be an isolated case unfortunately”, explains the Minister of the Environment.
The price of lithium, which can be used in batteries, has fallen in the last year, largely due to the increase in Chinese production. In the case of Setúbal, Galp says that a return it considered adequate was not guaranteed.
