Tesla faces further delay in long approval process for its Gigafactory in Berlin. In a recent letter to the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg, Tesla expressed its dissatisfaction with the long German approval procedures for its Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin, but this does not seem to be helping to accelerate.
Tesla Faces Further Delay in Long Approval Process for its Gigafactory in Berlin
At a committee meeting in the Brandenburg state parliament, Environment Minister Axel Vogel said that even before the much-anticipated overall approval, the state authorities had to consider plenty of preliminary applications from Tesla.
With regard to the final permission, he said that there is still a lack of basic information on this, so it is not yet expected in mid-May.
New interpretation of Tesla plans possible
Before the approval is available, no electric cars from the German Gigafactory may be sold,the minister had stated in an earlier meeting. And his latest remarks and those of his department head Axel Steffen sounded as if Tesla would have to wait even longer. Steffen did not rule out the possibility of a new public participation due to changes to Tesla’s plans.
The deadlines for this alone (4 weeks of interpretation, 4 weeks for objections, then evaluation) would probably mean that the date officially set by Tesla for a production start this July cannot be met. According to Steffen, a possible new interpretation can only be decided upon once further comments and opinions have been received.
The question also arises as to whether the entire Tesla project or only changed aspects will be reassessed by the public.
Tesla, meanwhile, is in a hurry. Two further preliminary applications for the Gigafactory have been submitted since the end of March and are currently being examined, Minister Vogel confirmed.
This involves the installation of production technology for final assembly and chimneys on the hall roof with helicopter support; In addition, Tesla now wants to be able to work at Giga Berlin around the clock on weekdays and also on Sundays.
But even if there is no elaborate reinterpretation of Tesla plans, the production start of german Model Y this July now seems hardly feasible. And even for the company’s longer-term plans, the recent state parliament meeting did not bring any good news.
As in the current first phase of the Gigafactory project, the topic of water plays an important role. With the new factory, whose demand Tesla has already drastically reduced, the reserves of the directly responsible supplier water association Strausberg-Erkner (WSE)are almost planned. But Tesla has much more in the area in Grünheide – for later expansion phases there is talk of 40,000 instead of 12,000 employees, and previous plans already showed three more large production halls.
More water for Giga Berlin in 5 years
This would require much more water. The state of Brandenburg is aware of this, and it has identified a possible groundwater deposit in Hangelsberg near the Tesla site. If it proves to be usable and is developed by the WSE, it will be used exclusively to supply the Freienbrink industrial estate near Grünheide, where Tesla is building its Gigafactory.
But so far only a “preliminary investigation” is underway, as an employee of the State Environment Agency reported now in the State Parliament. This was planned for two years, and only then could the WSE begin its own concrete planning and apply for the development, which would then have to be approved.
According to a report, Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote the tempo entry in court himself. It is not known whether he personally follows the online meetings in the Brandenburg Landtag, but if he does, then the current one may have annoyed him.
Not only did she bring the information that the final approval for his Gigafactory was further delayed: the official also stated that it would probably take a total of five years from now on for water to flow from Hangelsberg to Tesla, and there were “uncertainties” in such procedures. At the moment, the question of financing for preliminary investigations is also being clarified, since it has to be done in “proper ways”.
No deadline for approval of German Tesla factory, more water takes 5 years, according to the country, April 15, 2021
