WA receives $200 million from DOE for battery manufacturing in Moses Lake
A truck is parked between brine evaporation ponds at Albemarle Corp.’s Silver Peak lithium facility, Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, in Silver Peak, Nev. The ponds use evaporation to help separate lithium from brine pumped from underground. The Biden administration on Wednesday, Oct. 19, awarded $2.8 billion in grants to build and expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles in 12 states. A total of 20 companies, including Albemarle Corp., will receive grants for projects to extract and process lithium, graphite and other battery materials, manufacture components and strengthen U.S. supply of critical minerals, officials said.
MOSES LAKE, Wash. — President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the U.S. Department of Energy announced two companies are planning to build battery component manufacturing facilities in Moses Lake.
The two facilities will get $100 million each from a new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Program intended to help increase domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the electric grid.
Group14 Technologies Inc. and Sila Nanotechnologies will each get grants from the DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling program. Both of these companies focus on bringing silicon anodes that can replace graphite anodes commonly used in electric batteries.
U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell says silicon anodes should result in less expensive and more energy-dense battery packs that can be built with U.S. materials.
“The historic investments Congress made over the past two years are helping solve the next-generation battery storage technology challenges right here in Washington,” Senator Cantwell said. “These two cutting-edge companies will not only use domestically sourced materials to make electric vehicles more affordable, they will be creating hundreds of high paying jobs that will help transform Moses Lake into an epicenter of clean energy manufacturing.”
Group14 Technologies Inc. is building two, 2,000-ton-per-year commercial manufacturing modules in Moses Lake, creating a total of 500 jobs (300 for skilled trade jobs and 200 for technical and operations jobs).
Sila Nanotechnologies will build a 600,000-square-foot facility, and they are expected to train and hire 150-300 technologists through the completion of the project.
DOE gave $2.8 billion in grants to 20 similar manufacturing and processing companies across 12 states.
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