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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Consortium Plans $600 Million Battery Manufacturing Plant in Kentucky

04/13/2009
The National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries (NAATBatt), a nonprofit consortium of more than 50 companies and organizations, has chosen Glendale, Kentucky, as the site for a proposed $600 million battery manufacturing facility, according to the Kentucky governor's office. The facility could create up to 2,000 new full-time jobs with an average annual wage over $40,000, along with an estimated 1,500 construction jobs. NAATBatt will be submitting a proposal to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to secure funding for the facility through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and will propose the Kentucky location as the preferred site. The facility would consist of a headquarters facility, a manufacturing facility for refining products and production processes, and a larger manufacturing operation for mass battery production. The campus is expected to reach one million square feet in size. "Over the last few months, the leadership in the state under Governor Beshear, Secretary Hayes, and Secretary Peters has articulated a clear vision to establish Kentucky as the center for advanced battery technology for enabling electrification of the nation's transportation," says Sanford Kane, NAATBatt's treasurer. "The announcement last week of the partnership between Kentucky and the Argonne National Lab that will initially focus on lithium-ion battery manufacturing research and development is proof that the vision is starting to be realized." The governor's office says Kentucky won the project over sites in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas. NAATBatt expects to hear from the DOE sometime this summer and construction is expected to begin immediately if the funding is secured.

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