Polarium starts production its third factory, which is located in Cape Town and established in close partnership with American Tower Corporation (ATC) in Africa. With a yearly production potential of more than 300,000 batteries, the facility further increases Polarium’s presence in sub-Saharan Africa.

ATC Africa signed a multimillion-dollar lithium-ion battery bulk purchase agreement with Polarium in 2021, securing thousands of lithium-powered backup solutions for ATC Africa’s markets over the coming years. This deepened partnership has enabled Polarium to establish a new factory in South Africa, which when fully operational will be able to produce more than 300,000 batteries per year, equivalent to 4 Gigawatt hours.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a significant number of wireless telecommunication sites lack access to a reliable power grid infrastructure and have historically relied on diesel generators or lead batteries for backup power. By switching to Polarium’s solutions, ATC Africa has since 2018 been able to reduce its scope 1 emissions and reliance on fossil fuels by more than 50 percent.

Accelerating the transition to a more sustainable telecom tower infrastructure

“This is an illustration of green impact. Through the establishment of a factory in Cape Town, Polarium and ATC Africa will enable accelerated transition to a more sustainable telecom tower infrastructure. It is also a milestone that we will increase our worldwide manufacturing capacity, and bring production closer to our end-markets and customers on the African continent,” says Carl-Erik Lagercrantz, Chairman of Polarium.