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GE to Open $100 Million Advanced Battery Manufacturing Facility in New York

05/12/2009
GE will invest $100 million to open a new advanced battery manufacturing facility in the Albany, New York, area. The company says it plans to create 350 direct new jobs and thousands more in the supply chain for the plant. An exact location has not yet been chosen, but it will be somewhere in the Capital Region surrounding Albany. The batteries will be sodium-based -- as opposed to the lithium-ion type used in electric and hybrid automobiles -- and will be used to power GE's hybrid locomotives after they are commercialized next year. "We believe the advanced battery business could be a $1 billion business over the next decade," says Jeff Immelt, GE's chair and CEO. "As GE lauches this technology business, I want to thank Governor Paterson and his economic development team for their assistance in facilitating the agreement that made the selection of New York an easy decision." New York Governor David Paterson's office says the state has offered an incentives package to GE that includes $15 million in grants. GE will also apply to the U.S. Department of Energy for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Advanced Battery Manufacturing Grant program. GE officials say they plan to have the new facility operational sometime in 2011.

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