GlobalFoundries Installing 16-MW Lightshift Battery Storage On-Site at Vermont Semiconductor Plant

    May 27, 2025
    Although it is not technically a microgrid, the Lightshift BESS will be interconnected directly at the Essex Junction plant’s switchyard, operating behind the meter. The direct connection is designed to enable the batteries to help reduce the plant’s energy draw during peak demand.
    Image inside Essex Junction plant credit GlobalFoundries
    6835d9fc2cbc710af1997774 Gf Essek Junction

    Starting next year semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries will utilize 16 MW in battery storage system power on-site at its production plant in Essex Junction, Vermont.

    The battery energy storage system (BESS) will be developed, built and operated by Lightshift Energy and offer up to 52 MWh in power generation capacity available for deployment during peak load. The BESS will begin construction this year at the GlobalFoundries semiconductor plant and is anticipated to come online in early 2026.

    Although it is not technically a microgrid, the Lightshift BESS will be interconnected directly at the Essex Junction plant’s switchyard, operating behind the meter. The direct connection is designed to enable the batteries to help reduce the plant’s energy draw during peak demand times, according to reports.

    “This project represents new applications for energy storage within the semiconductor industry, demonstrating how managing peak demand can improve efficiency for industrial operations, and how energy storage can be used to mitigate the impacts of large loads on the electric grid,” Michael Herbert, Lightshift Energy co-founder and managing partner, said in a statement.

    The battery system will store electricity drawn during periods of low demand, at lower rates, and then discharge during peak periods to bolster the regional grid. The grid system operator is ISO New England.

    GlobalFoundries will use the behind-the-meter system and grid discharging to reduce its own energy costs at the Essex Junction semiconductor manufacturing plant. The facility is the largest of only two 200-mm semiconductor production plant in the U.S. and is undergoing a modernization project partially funded with a $1.5 billion grant from the federal Department of Commerce through the CHIPS and Science Act.

    Essex Junction specializes in radio frequency and silicon germanium technologies, considered essential for wireless and 5G applications. It employs more than 1,800 workers, although Global Foundries announced an unspecified number of layoffs in late 2024.

    Lightshift Energy has been developing utility-scale battery storage projects in Massachusetts and Virginia. Last year, the startup raised $180 million in new capital, with more than half of that in a round led by Greenbacker Capital Management.

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    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Managing Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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