Aluminium producer Norsk Hydro setting up two new divisions - Renewables Growth and Batteries

Aluminium producer Norsk Hydro is boosting its sustainability drive by setting up two new divisions - Renewables Growth and Batteries, announced the company on Tuesday, October 14.

Hydro provides aluminium to a range of industries, including the construction and automotive industry. Hydro said the battery sector is growing rapidly across the globe and in Europe, backed on the ongoing automotive industry transformation from fossil fuel to electrical vehicles.

The Batteries division will group Hydro’s current joint ventures and seek new business opportunities along the battery value chain, said Hydro. The company has a small share in Norwegian marine batteries firm Corvus Energy and in Sweden’s Northvolt, which is building factories to produce batteries for electric vehicles, as well as battery recycling joint venture Hydro Volt.

Hydro’s new Renewables Growth division will focus on developing renewable power projects, initially in the Nordics and Brazil. Hydro currently operates hydropower plants and one onshore wind farm in Norway.

"We aim to enter projects at an earlier stage so we can take part in developing, commercialise, construct, co-own and in some places operate them,"  said Arvid Moss, executive vice president for energy and corporate development, in a statement.

Hydro also intends to explore options for integrating battery storage into its plants to avoid the costs of using expensive power during peak times.

Internal recruitment for Hydro’s two new divisions has already begun. The company is looking for external candidates as well with relevant knowledge, said spokesman Halvor Molland.

While presenting second-quarter earnings in July, Chief Executive Hilde Merete Aasheim said Hydro would grow and diversify into the "megatrends" of recycling, renewable energy and batteries.