CATL Promises to Use Less Water and Energy

CATL intends to implement more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solutions at its Debrecen plant in Eastern Hungary. To this end, the company has submitted an application to the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office to amend its environmental permit.

The company says that thanks to its latest technological developments, it will use less water and energy. The use of new types of cooling towers will reduce the amount of water used for cooling by nearly a third, and in addition to nickel-cobalt-manganese battery cells, the company also plans to manufacture lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

CATL, the world leader in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles and the international market leader in technological innovations based on the use of renewable energy sources, is building its second European battery factory in Debrecen. As one of the industry's biggest innovators, the company has filed around 49,000 new patent applications in the last five years and is constantly developing and optimizing its manufacturing technology.

The Department of Environmental Protection, Nature Conservation and Waste Management of the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office issued the plant's integrated environmental permit in 2023, which was amended twice (in 2023 and 2024). In accordance with the permits issued, trial production of modules began last September in the Southern Industrial Park, and cell production is scheduled to start at the end of this year.

The company has submitted an application to the Government Office to amend its environmental permit. "The purpose of the amendment is to apply even more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solutions than previously planned, i.e., to use less water and energy. However, there is no change in the fact that we will continue to develop a strict operating and control system at our Debrecen plant to ensure that it complies with all Hungarian and European Union environmental regulations," according to Matt Shen, managing director of CATL Debrecen.  

One of the most important changes is that the company will install so-called adiabatic cooling towers to reduce water consumption. This technology is more efficient and uses less water than traditional cooling towers, reducing the amount of water used for cooling by nearly a third. Thanks to the new technology, the facility will use only gray water (once the associated urban infrastructure has been built) for cooling, which will significantly reduce the plant's environmental and water footprint.