BERLIN (Reuters) – The German state of Brandenburg has called a news conference for Friday at which it will announce its decision on approval for the planned Tesla gigafactory near Berlin, it said on Thursday.

“The approval procedure for the e-car and battery factory of the U.S. company Tesla in Gruenheide in Brandenburg is nearing completion. This will be announced tomorrow at a press conference in the State Chancellery in Potsdam,” the state government said in a statement.

Earlier, Handelsblatt reported that Tesla had won final approval from the Brandenburg state environment office for its gigafactory.

(Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Paul Carrel)