Opens Battery Vocational School

The battery vocational school, which is Norway's first vocational school for the battery industry, is now open for applicants. The new and innovative course is offered at Fagskolen in Viken in eastern Norway starting in January 2023.

Fagskolen in Viken has led the project, where a national team of public vocational schools have worked together to develop the teaching program. 

The pilot implementation is run by the national team and is a close cooperation between vocational schools across the country. This has resulted in a study that is tailored to the battery industry.

"Our goal is to add important expertise to an industry that will be of great importance for Nordland and Norway. FREYR is soon ready to start up, so it is important that we start the study now. Nordland fagskole (vocational school) aims to seek approval in 2023 and start our own course in battery studies," says Hans Gunnar Hansen, head of department at Nordland vocational school in a press release. 

There are major investments in the battery industry in Nordland, both in Narvik and in Mo i Rana. FREYR is the furthest in the process toward start-up.

"The start of production at Giga Arctic is planned for the first half of 2024. With full production at this factory, FREYR Battery estimates that they will then have just under 700 employees in Mo i Rana," says Hilde Rønningsen, communications manager at FREYR Helgeland.

Norsk Hydro, FREYR, and Nordland county council are partners and the vocational schools in Innlandet, Nordland, Rogaland, Vestland, and Viken are educational partners. The battery vocational school is built on a tripartite collaboration between LO, NHO, and public authorities.