Greece’s Sunlight abandons its gigafactory plans

Athens-headquartered Sunlight is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of lead-acid batteries and has a manufacturing base in Xanthi and a recycling plant for lead-acid devices in Komotini, both in northern Greece.
The company has expanded into lithium-ion batteries via R&D programs and through establishing assembly lines in Greece and abroad.
Sunlight expanded rapidly around the world in recent years, via acquisitions, and runs assembly facilities in the USA, Italy, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Romania, and Israel.
The company announced, on Jan. 21, 2025, it has agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Germany’s Lehmann Marine GmbH, a member of Höpen GmbH, thus marking Sunlight’s entry into the maritime battery market. Sunlight said, in a press release, it “is positioning itself at the forefront of an industry driven by the increasing demand for sustainable shipping solutions.”
Headquartered in Seevetal-Hittfeld, Lehmann Marine focuses on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery systems.
Its new owner argues electrification is key to reducing emissions in the maritime sector and has said the global maritime battery market will grow substantially to offer both fully-electric and hybrid propulsion systems.
Gigafactory plan abandoned
Sunlight also had grand plans to establish a 20 GWh manufacturing base for lithium-ion products in Greece’s Western Macedonia region, a lignite area which is making efforts to become a clean energy hub.
In January 2024, Sunlight appointed former civil servant Nikos Mantzoufas as its chief funding and institutional affairs officer. His role, Sunlight said, would concern “the construction project of Sunlight Group’s lithium-ion cells gigafactory,” and he would “also be responsible for the integration and monitoring of Sunlight Group’s projects funded through development initiatives and investment schemes in Europe and America.”
Mantzoufas, however, during the week starting Jan. 13, 2025, announced on his LinkedIn social media account that he is stepping away from his role at Sunlight Group.
He argued that the energy storage sector is “the new oil” and that he is proud his work led to the company securing EUR 245 million ($255 million) from the European Union’s Innovation Fund.
That fund is financed by revenue from the bloc’s Emissions Trading System and focuses on innovative clean technology and big flagship projects with European added value, that can bring significant emission reductions.
“Despite common criticisms that Europe is bureaucratic or slow-moving, my own experience under … the Innovation Fund … has shown quite the opposite,” said Mantzoufas.
The Greek press has reported Mantzoufas’ resignation followed a letter sent by Sunlight to the Innovation Fund, in December 2024, saying it had abandoned its gigafactory plans and thus would not require that EUR 245 million funding.
Sunlight has made no official response to those articles and did not reply to ESS News’ request for comment.
In addition to the Innovation Fund finance for the Greek gigafactory, Sunlight agreed a 10-year, EUR 25 million loan from EU lender the European Investment Bank (EIB) in December 2023, to fund innovative battery R&D facilities and a pilot line at the company’s manufacturing base in Xanthi.
he EIB has stated the projected 200 MWh pilot production line would “not produce any commercial-grade cells. This is part of a broader research, development, and innovation (RDI) project aimed at developing and producing its own complete lithium-ion battery systems, including the cells.”
An internal source confirmed for ESS News that the pilot line is currently under development.