On Tuesday, Eni – the energy company partly owned by the Ministry of Economy – started work on the construction of a stationary battery storage factory in Brindisi. The so-called gigafactory will be located in an area of the Versalis plant, Eni’s chemical company, a sector struggling at the European level due to high energy prices and low-cost foreign competition – especially Chinese.
VALUE, CAPACITY AND TIMELINES OF ENI’S GIGAFACTORY IN BRINDISI
The Brindisi factory is dedicated to lithium iron phosphate batteries, a chemistry different from the “traditional” one (composed of nickel, manganese, and cobalt) but cheaper, although it does not offer the same energy density. These batteries will not be intended for electric mobility but for storage, meaning the storage of excess energy produced by renewable plants at certain times of the day, so that it is not wasted but rather “returned” to the electrical grid when needed.
Lithium iron phosphate chemistry is particularly suitable for storage systems because it is less expensive and because, in stationary applications, battery size is not as strict a constraint as it is for electric cars.
Eni’s gigafactory will have a total capacity of 16 gigawatt-hours per year by 2030: according to Wood Mackenzie estimates, European demand for energy storage systems will reach 138 GWh in 2030, compared to 36 GWh in 2025. The project will require a total investment of 1 billion euros and will be completed between the end of 2028 and the beginning of 2029: the battery assembly plant will be ready earlier, by the first half of 2027.
NOT JUST ASSEMBLY: WHAT ENI WILL DO WITH SERI INDUSTRIAL
The gigafactory in Brindisi will not be limited to assembling battery packs: it will be an integrated hub, where materials for the cathode (i.e., lithium iron phosphate), cells, and modules will also be produced, up to battery recycling. Moreover, the plant will also handle the assembly of modules coming from the factory of Seri Industrial in Teverola.
Seri Industrial – a Campania-based group specialized in energy storage and controlled by CEO Vittorio Civitillo – directly participates in Eni’s gigafactory in Brindisi. The project is, in fact, carried out by Eni Storage Systems, a company equally owned by Eni and Seri Industrial.
Eni has also entered the capital of Faenix, a Seri Industrial company, acquiring a 30 percent stake. Faenix will handle the commercialization of storage systems produced in Brindisi and Teverola.
THE LITHIUM AGREEMENT
Regarding the supply of raw materials for the batteries, yesterday Eni signed an agreement to acquire 25 percent of Black Giant, a Chilean mining company specialized in lithium extraction. The investment amounts to 225 million dollars and guarantees Eni the possibility to source up to 25 percent of the company’s total lithium carbonate production.
Black Giant is controlled by EnergyX, a US startup in which Eni holds a minority stake through the vehicle Eni Next. Black Giant operates in northern Chile – a country with large lithium reserves and the world’s largest exporter of carbonate – and specializes in direct extraction, a new technique that allows metal to be extracted from brine ponds with greater accuracy, reducing processing times and water consumption compared to traditional practices.
