California-based energy storage solutions provider EnerVenue plans to open a gigafactory in Shelby County, Kentucky for the production of metal-hydrogen batteries.
Located on a 73-acre site, the one-million-square-foot gigafactory will be used as a manufacturing plant for its Energy Storage Vessels, the company says. All aspects of design, process validation, manufacturing and testing will be performed onsite.
The gigafactory, which is expected to begin production by the end of the year, will enable EnerVenue to meet current and future demand for its non-lithium-ion battery technology, the company adds.
The first phase of the project will involve 1 GWh of annual production, with EnerVenue planning to invest over $1 billion to expand to more than 20 GWh per year across its domestic manufacturing sites in subsequent phases.
The new gigafactory is expected to create 450 full-time jobs during the initial opening and first phase of the production ramp. To support the company’s significant local investment, Shelby County has offered EnerVenue a long-term incentive package, which includes property and wage tax rebates totaling $20 million over a 25-year period.
The state of Kentucky has also provided tax incentives to EnerVenue, totaling more than $10.3 million for the first phase of the company’s ramp. These tax rebates are expected to help promote growth in the county and incentivize future development as the gigafactory expands and creates additional jobs.
EnerVenue says it has seen accelerating demand for its “unique solution for safe, durable, and versatile clean energy storage”, with more than 7 GWh of customer commitments, including from Pine Gate Renewables, Nicon Industries’ Green Energy Renewable Solutions and Sonnell Power Solutions, among others.
“As customer interest in EnerVenue’s storage technology soars, we’re excited to significantly scale battery production with our new state-of-the-art gigafactory in Shelby County,” said Jorg Heinemann, CEO, EnerVenue. “Following a nationwide vetting process, Kentucky emerged as the ideal fit to build our new facility. The state and county governments were committed to bringing manufacturing and clean energy jobs to the region, and we look forward to working with them as we build out operations.”
Headquartered in Fremont, California, EnerVenue claims to be the first company to bring metal-hydrogen batteries capable of more than 30,000 cycles to the clean energy revolution.
EnerVenue also is the latest of more than a dozen energy transition firms announcing battery manufacturing and large-scale recycling plants in the U.S. Those recent announcements include LG Energy Solution, Cirba, Panasonic Energy, Microvast, Fluence Energy, FREYR Battery, AESC Envision and others.
