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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -The Swedish government does not plan to take a stake in lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt, Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch told Reuters on Tuesday as the company continues to explore options to stay afloat.
Northvolt has in a matter of months gone from being Europe's best shot at a home-grown electric-vehicle battery champion to exploring options to stay in business, hobbled by production problems, the loss of a major customer and a lack of funding.
"To come up with a completely new system that doesn't exist today, that's not on the table," Busch, who is also minister for energy, business and industry, said. "To go in and have state ownership in Northvolt, for example, is not on the table."
Busch's comments echoed those of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson who said in September the government did not have plans to invest in the cash-strapped battery maker, which is shrinking its operations and cutting jobs in order to stay afloat.
Busch said that Sweden's switch away from fossil fuels would continue regardless of what happens to Northvolt.
The government estimates that companies plan more than 1,000 billion Swedish crowns ($91 billion) in investment in "green" industries over the next decades, mainly in the north of Sweden, aiming to take advantage of cheap, clean electricity production.
"There are huge investments happening in the green transition in Sweden whether or not the Northvolt project gets fully completed or not," Busch told Reuters.
"With that said, Northvolt is important for Sweden and it's important for the whole of the European Union, because we are in something of an industrial fight with China and the United States," she said.
The company has been discussing the possibility of bankruptcy protection in the United States as one of several options for the group to survive, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters last week.
($1 = 10.9570 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Simon Johnson, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Louise Rasmussen and Susan Fenton)
