Thursday, June 19, 2025

The Northvolt Fiasco

From Apollo News:  "More than one billion euros of subsidies and loans – 700 million euros from Germany alone – have now disappeared into thin air. Again, a project that was jazzed by politics, promising prestige and shown the voter's political competence, has failed crashing due to reality. The broad silence of the North Voltage case in politics fits into time: No one dares open criticism of the systemic failure of interventionism, certainly not on the Green Deal,EU-Europe should actually lead to a new era of clean production and free green energy."

The plan to build a Northvolt factory in northern Germany has not only been abandoned but the entire business, including its flagship facility in Sweden has gone into bankruptcy, leading to the unemployment of 2800.

The article is incorrect, however, in stating that the .7 billions of Euros "disappeared into thin air". That's not what ill spent money does. It has gone into the accounts of the highest levels of management, bankruptcy attorneys, suppliers of equipment, contractors hired to build infrastructure and so on. Certainly the principals involved in the project did not enjoy the financial success they might have if their dream had been realized but none of them will be begging on street corners either. Politicians don't worry about these kinds of failures since they don't have a personal interest in the huge sums involved. Subordinating business decisions to political visions is a recipe for financial disaster. 

 

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