Norway battery firm selects Ga.

ATLANTA — A Norwegian company will build a giant electric battery factory southwest of Atlanta, company and state officials announced Friday, investing up to $2.6 billion over multiple phases.

Freyr Battery said it would build an initial plant that would produce batteries that could hold 34 gigawatt-hours of electricity each year. Among battery plants currently operating, that would be the second-largest worldwide, behind a factory owned by Panasonic and Tesla in Nevada.

The company said it plans an initial investment of $1.7 billion, and would hire 720 people at a site it has purchased in an industrial park near the suburb of Newnan. Phases through 2029 would involve $700 million of additional investment.