Eni Starts Building Italian Battery Hub, Agrees Chilean Lithium Investment
Eni SpA has broken ground for a project to produce lithium-iron-phosphate batteries at the Brindisi industrial site in Italy.
Concurrently it announced an agreement to acquire a stake in Black Giant SpA, which is developing a lithium production project located in northern Chile.
The Brindisi project launches a partnership between state-backed energy major Eni and fellow Italian company Seri Industrial SpA that spans the lithium iron phosphate battery value chain in the country.
Batteries from the Brindisi plant "will primarily be used for Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that support the deployment of renewables and enhance grid stability", Eni said in a press release this week. "These systems store energy generated from renewable sources when production exceeds demand and release it when needed, making them essential to overcoming the intermittency of renewables".
"European demand for such systems is expected to grow from 36 GWh in 2025 to around 138 GWh by 2030", Eni noted, citing Wood Mackenzie.
"Eni Storage Systems' development plan includes the construction of a gigafactory in Brindisi for the production of battery cells and modules, together with a Battery Energy Storage System assembly plant", it added, referring to the joint venture controlled by Eni subsidiary Eni Industrial Evolution SpA and Seri Industrial subsidiary FIB SpA. "The latter will have an expanded capacity, enabling it to assemble battery modules also supplied by Seri Industrial's gigafactory in Teverola, in the province of Caserta.
"To complete the project, in the second phase the Brindisi site will also host the production of lithium-iron-phosphate cathode active material and battery recycling activities, both built to serve the two gigafactories.
"The project envisages a total production capacity of 16 GWh per year by 2030 (half in Brindisi and half at the Teverola plant), equivalent to more than 10 percent of the European market for stationary energy storage systems".
Eni chief operating officer for industrial transformation Giuseppe Ricci said, "Today, we are launching in Brindisi an industrial initiative that marks Eni's entry into an entirely new business with significant growth potential".
"This investment will establish an innovative local value chain capable of generating employment and strengthening strategic autonomy from non-EU markets, while reducing emissions without compromising competitiveness", Ricci added.
"Our industrial transformation model, which combines greater environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness and energy security, is now a tangible reality.
"It is further strengthened by Eni's investment in FAENIX, the Seri Industrial Group company, made in parallel that will market the energy storage systems produced in Teverola and Brindisi".
Chilean Lithium
In another battery investment, Eni signed a deal to buy a 25 percent interest in Black Giant, a subsidiary of Austin, Texas-based Energy Exploration Technologies Inc that is developing a lithium project in Chile.
"The project targets production of 52.5 kton/year of lithium carbonate equivalent at full capacity and will be executed in two phases", Eni noted in a separate statement. "The first phase includes the development of Train 1, with a capacity of 7.5 kton/year and start-up expected in 2028, while the second phase will add further trains, with an additional capacity of 45 kton/year and start-up expected in 2030".
The agreement involves a phased investment of $225 million from Eni.
Canadian Feedstock Project
Earlier this year Eni said it has entered the critical minerals value chain by making a $70-million investment in Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc (NMG) for a stake of about 11.6 percent. That would be invested in phase 2 of NMG's Matawinie Mine project in Canada.
"Eni will be able to negotiate the supply of graphite and active anode material volumes committed by NMG, thereby also supporting Eni's Gigafactory initiative to produce stationary lithium batteries in the industrial area of Brindisi", Eni said May 15.
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