Britishvolt's planned battery gigafactory site on the former Blyth Power Station location is reported to have attracted interested buyers in the motor and renewables industries.
The site, near the village of Cambois in Northumberland, has come up for sale after the collapse this week of the electric vehicle battery startup, which had planned to build its factory there due to the proximity to port and rail links, and existing automotive factories in the North East.
Although Britishvolt began preliminary works pre-construction in 2021 – with the company sharing pictures of diggers on the ground – the site remains effectively vacant after the focus was switched to its Hams Hall scale-up facility in the Midlands.
Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) and Jaguar Land Rover owner Tata Motors were among those said to have inquired about the site, according to an FT report. A number of car and wind turbine manufacturers were also interested, it added, though Glencore has denied any interest.
In the years between the demolition of Blyth Power Station in 2003 and before Britishvolt secured the site in late 2020, the site has been proposed for an Npower £2bn 'clean coal' power station and a possible location for a £80mln Siemens wind turbine factory.
Administrators from EY were appointed this week to find buyers for Power by Britishvolt, the main UK company in the wider group, which owns the technology behind its prototype batteries and employs 26 staff behind its intellectual property, with the remainder of its workforce of 300 made redundant.
EY has said no other entities in the group were in administration, and the site is likely to be owned by a separate company not in administration.
On Thursday, EY said: "The joint administrators are assessing options to realise the potential value in the business and assets of the company for the benefit of creditors and are liaising with a number of interested parties. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."