BE-VOLT, the Benelux's first LFP battery gigafactory
Noshin Omar, a professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and energy storage specialist, founded AVESTA Holding in 2019 on the basis of a bold technological gambit: building highperformance lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in Europe without nickel or cobalt. With Avesta Battery & Energy Engineering, AVESTA Holding decided to build its first BE-VOLT gigafactory in Wallonia.
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While the Flemish holding company is investing in LFP technology, the sector is dominated by Chinese manufacturers. “We are proud to have believed in this technology from the start and to have been able to build this project using our own resources,” AVESTA Holding CFO Shilan Omar told us. With the active support of Wallonia Export & Investment Agency, the project is taking shape. The single permit for the factory at Seneffe-Manage was granted in August 2025 and construction work has begun.
“BE-VOLT will be the first LFP battery gigafactory in Benelux.” With an initial capacity of 3 GWh per year, the aim is to reach 10 GWh by 2030, and its output has already been sold out before opening. The batteries will power domestic energy storage, light electric vehicles, maritime and hospital equipment in a 500km area, prioritizing logistical uses with the least possible environmental impact. “We predict we will recruit about a hundred people in phase 1, eventually employing a total of 200 to 300 staff in the long term.”
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But BE-VOLT is not just an assembly line. “Any company that brings LFP batteries to the market must be able to recycle them, and Europe is currently lacking in this respect.” A 30,000-tonne capacity recycling centre is being planned, which will use a mechanical approach that is much more energy efficient than the one for processing nickel cobalt batteries. R&D is based at AVESTA’s headquarters in Ninove, which houses laboratories and development capacities that are used by the whole group.
And Seneffe is only the start: AVESTA is also launching projects in several European countries at the same time. “Wallonia is our shop window. We are aiming for four to five European gigafactories within the next ten years.”
WAB Magazine
