GALP ENERGIA, SGPS, S.A. 
Galp and Northvolt, partners in the Aurora Lithium joint venture, which is developing an advanced lithium conversion unit in Setubal, have named Manuel de Sousa Martins to lead the new company as its CEO.
Manuel de Sousa Martins was previously an executive board member at Secil Group and the CEO of Secil Portugal, where he continued to accumulate extensive experience managing large-scale industrial projects, but also acquiring a deep knowledge about the Setúbal region, where both Secil and Aurora are located.
Sousa Martins has been in Secil's holding company, Semapa, since 2011, as an executive director. He was CEO of the group's environmental and recycling businesses (ETSA) and then CEO of Secil Brazil. Before joining Semapa, he had several previous national and international working experiences in retailing, telecommunications, renewable energies and petrochemical, having worked at C-level in Madrid, London, Paris, Montréal, São Paulo and Curitiba.
He has a Management and Business Administration degree from Lisbon's Universidade Católica, where he also completed an MBA. He later attended executive education programs at INSEAD, in Singapore, and at the London Business School.
The Aurora unit, which will be one of Europe's largest and most sustainable, is set to have an initial annual production capacity of between 28,000 and 35,000 tons of battery grade lithium hydroxide - a critical material required by the lithium-ion battery manufacturing industry, which is expected to grow around tenfold by 2030.
Northvolt and Galp are envisaging a start of operations by the end of 2025 and the start of commercial operations in 2026, hoping to benefit from a first-mover advantage in the European battery market, which must significantly expand throughout the current decade for the block to remain a relevant player in some of its most strategic industries, such as automotive.
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Galp Energia SGPS SA published this content on 15 September 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 September 2022 10:49:17 UTC.
