Plans to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Dolni Lutyne near Karvina in the  northeast Czech Moravian-Silesian region have been greenlighted after environmental organisations signed an agreement with the state. This has unblocked the preparatory works on the location.

“Contracting parties are interested in enabling preparations and realisation of the industrial zone in Dolni Lutyne”, the introduction to the agreement on cooperation signed by the Czech state, the Moravian-Silesian Region and several environmental organisations was quoted as saying by Czech Radio.

The news of the plans to build the CZK200bn (€7.9bn) giga factory near Karvina appeared in the news last week. The Czech state received an offer from an international company, but it declined to give further details.  

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vojtech Srnka described the location as “meeting demanding criteria of the mulled end investor of the project”, adding that it “has a sufficient size, it is close to the electricity plant Detmarovice, which enables sufficient connection to technical infrastructure” and that highway and railroad connection is near.

The state owns about 60% of the location, and the “ownership unification” is part of the preparatory works, the spokesperson of the Moravian-Silesian region, Nikol Birklenova, told Czech Radio last week.

Czechia has one of the world's largest car-making industries per capita, but it is struggling to transition to electro-mobility without a battery plant, which produces the most significant component of electrice vehicles. Neighbouring Hungary, Poland and Slovakia all have battery plants either operating or in preparation.

The previous plan to build a giga factory near Pilsen ended after Volkswagen, the parent company of Czech Skoda Auto and a potential investor of the giga factory, shelved the plans.

The works on the location near Karvina are still subject to a positive assessment of the state environmental agency AOPK, since an environmentally protected area borders the planned location.

 The signed agreement stipulates that the state will carry out a biological survey, an assessment of the impact on land and nature, an assessment of the impact on the protected bird zone, and water quality analysis and geological examinations.  

“If the feasibility study works conclude that realisation of the Industrial zone Dolni Lutyne would lead to the annihilation of the bird zone […] the parties won’t make […] steps in further preparations” on the location, the signed agreement states. The project could end also if the signed parties failed to agree on compensation measures.