Battery maker TAB Mežica plans to open Slovenia's first gigafactory for the production of battery storage systems in the northern town of Prevalje in 2024. The €18 million investment is expected to create up to 100 jobs.

"The investment is the most important milestone for the TAB group. This project will significantly increase our production capacity for lithium-ion electricity storage devices and contribute to the European green transition," CEO Roman Burja said on 27 October.

The automated assembly line for battery modules and packs will be developed, built and supplied by the Austrian company BM-Rosendahl, a unit of Rosendahl Nextrom.

The plan is to produce up to 180,000 battery packs per year with a total capacity of one gigawatt-hour.

Production will take place in a factory in Prevalje where TAB recently launched production of lithium-ion batteries.

TAB is an established player in the market for lead-acid batteries, which it manufactures in its Slovenian-based plants in Črna na Koroškem and Žerjav as well as in North Macedonia.