Glendale, Kentucky has been selected as the site for a proposed domestic battery manufacturing and headquarters facility.
Governor Steve Beshear says the National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Batteries - or NAATBatt - has chosen Glendale as the home for a potential investment of more than $600 million to develop the first-of-its-kind manufacturing facility for lithium-ion battery cells. Kentucky was selected over Texas, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
NAATBatt is a not-for-profit industry consortium of more than 50 corporations, associations and research institutions dedicated to making the United States a world leader in the manufacture of advanced lithium-ion or Li-Ion battery cells for transportation applications.
"This proposal will put Kentucky in a prime position to be the country's leading manufacturer of the clean-energy cars of the future,' Beshear said. "Kentucky 's strong roots in the automotive industry, as well as its close proximity to suppliers, manufacturers and researchers, make it a natural fit for production of the next generation of hybrid technology batteries.'
The 1,551-acre Glendale site, which sits adjacent to Interstate 65 and the CSX rail line, runs along what is commonly called "Auto Alley' and will be submitted as part of NAATBatt's application to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Under the federal stimulus plan, the Obama administration has set aside $2 billion for electric drive vehicle battery and component manufacturing projects. NAATBatt must submit its application to the DOE by May 19, 2009, and anticipates a decision on awards to be made this summer. If successful in securing the required funding, the Kentucky facility could begin construction immediately.
If successful in securing federal funding, NAATBatt would establish a campus in Glendale, which would consist of a headquarters facility, a manufacturing plant used to refine products and production processes, and a larger operation designed for mass battery manufacturing. The campus is expected to reach 1 million square feet. NAATBatt plans to develop a large scale "flexible manufacturing' facility that will contract to manufacture Li-Ion battery cells of various chemistries, formats and designs for multiple battery companies.
This one-of-a-kind manufacturing operation could create as many as 2,000 new full-time jobs with an average annual wage exceeding $40,000. An estimated additional 1,500 construction-related jobs would also be created for a period of 12 to 18 months.
(Update – Since this article was first published, news reports have appeared that the state of Kentucky is looking for additional incentives to offer for the project as a way to help secure more of the $2 billion in federal stimulus money for lithium-ion battery plants. Competition for the stimulus money has gotten heated, with the state of Michigan recently approving more than half a billion dollars in tax breaks for companies looking to build four factories in that state.)
Last week, Beshear announced the formation of a new national Battery Manufacturing Research and Development Center in central Kentucky to help develop and deploy a domestic supply of advanced battery technologies for vehicle applications (see http://www.mfrtech.com/articles/2000.html). That effort is a partnership between the state, Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville.
For more information about the proposed NAATBatt project call Jim Greenberger at 312-207-6499.
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