Sean Stephenson started as project manager at Northvolt in Skellefteå as early as 2019 but ended up as a senior director of technology.
The failed attempt to get a sufficiently large production going at Northvolt in Skellefteå has affected many previous employees who lost their jobs. But it has also attracted people to Skellefteå who would otherwise not have come here and who have now started other businesses.
For example, we have previously written about Abel Hailu Kebede from Ethiopia who makes worktops from recycled plastics, Abdoullah Latreche and Mohammed Maâskri from France who runs French Gastronomy – and Abhijith Nag Balasubramanya from India who plans a large scale hydroponic farm.
But there are also projects connected to batteries. During spring the company LBS Group, with a head office in Sundsvall, has initiated its work with solutions for battery storage with a focus on Skellefteå.
– We want to take the best of what we have learned at Northvolt and build on that, says Sean Stephenson who was recruited by LBS at the beginning of the year.
He is originally from the UK but moved to Skellefteå in 2019 in order to work at Northvolt. He was then one of the 10-15 first people on-board if you discount those working on the construction of the factory.
Now, six years later, he has settled in Skellefteå with his family.
– My children would not even let me move. They really like it here, he says and smiles.
Sean Stephenson, Neil Carlisle and Albin Wikström.
He has several other previous Northvolt employees with him in this new project, two of which live and work in Skellefteå. Albin Wikström is a Skellefteå native who returned home and started working for Northvolt in 2019 and Neil Carlisle from England worked there for three years.
They both resigned from Northvolt just two weeks before the bankruptcy.
– In spite of everything I actually saw Northvolt as a more stable alternative than to jump onto something entirely new but now after the fact it turned out to be the right choice, says Neil who recently bought a house in Skellefteå where he lives with his wife and newborn daughter.
He previously lived in London but is happy to have found a new job and that he can remain in Skellefteå.
– I liked life in London but when I return there now I feel like there are way too many people. This is a better place for kids to grow up, Neil says.
The data analyst Neil Carlisle was manager of technology innovation at Northvolt. He has moved to Skellefteå from the UK and has recently bought a house here.
Their new employer LBS Group, with over 200 employees in Europe, has long worked with facilities connected to renewable energy but they are now putting even more effort into battery storage. The fact that that the heart of the project is in Skellefteå is thanks to Northvolt having attracted skilled people to come here.
– Skellefteå is currently the centre of batteries in Europe and we want to build on that ecosystem. In part by setting up an office here but also by using contacts we have made in other parts of the world. For example we collaborate with previous Northvolt employees in Uzbekistan and Portugal, Sean says.
How many employees might there come to be in Skellefteå?
– What I know is that there are currently too few of us but we also need to sell more projects before we can expand. If I were to guess I would say that 10-20 people is reasonable in Skellefteå if we end up in the position we want to be in.
The market for battery storage is large but it requires you to have a good product in order to make it. One thing Sean, Neil and Albin wants to do is to offer a better way of monitoring the battery cells in order to extend their life.
Battery storage is nothing new but what LBS primarily wants to do is to find a good way of monitoring the battery cells in order to be able to detect deviations in time – thus increasing the useful life of the facilities.
When you tell people in the industry that you have worked at Northvolt – is it seen as a positive or a negative?
– Often positive I would say. Northvolt failed for several reasons but the reason was not the quality of the batteries. It was more to do with us not succeeding in making enough high quality batteries fast enough, Sean says.
He goes on to say that there are few who knows how much was actually done in Skellefteå over the years.
– Many problems were solved and values were created in various ways. Enormous efforts have been made, he says.
Sean Stephenson is head of LBS’s battery energy storage system.
When asked why that was not enough to make a functioning operation Sean lists reasons such as a changing market, demanding customers – and the pandemic.
– I don't think people understood how much of an impact it had. Many arrived at Northvolt after the pandemic but for us who were there before it was clear that it delayed everything in a significant way. It became difficult to recruit key positions, machines in China could not be tested as planned and of course it affected all logistics around the construction and initial starting.
But if the pandemic had not happened – would it have succeeded?
– I cannot say that for sure but I think it would have been an entirely different situation.
In future Sean hopes that the Skellefteå office can grow to 10-20 employees. They are currently working at House Be.
But enough about Northvolt – at least for this article. This trio is now looking forward with a great sense of hope for the future. Battery storage is something that is needed in the entire world, they say. Not least in connection with the production of renewable energy where there is sometimes greater production than there is demand.
– Sometimes you will perhaps see a wind turbine not moving. It is not always because there is no wind but sometimes it is because the electricity is not needed at that exact moment. With batteries you can collect the electricity when there is a surplus and then use it when it is required, Neil explains.
Another area of use is in industries that for example can purchase cheaper electricity at night and then use it during the day. All of this could increase the use of renewable energy which Albin and his colleagues are happy to contribute to.
– It is really fun that we can build on what we have done at Northvolt and take it to the next level and that LBS sees the potential in Skellefteå and in us, Albin says.