Metal-hydrogen battery company EnerVenue will open a manufacturing factory with a 1GWh annual capacity in Kentucky expected to begin production by the end of the year.
The company expects to invest upwards of US$1 billion to expand to more than 20GWh of annual manufacturing capacity across its domestic manufacturing sites in subsequent phases.
Located in Shelby County, the one-million-square-foot facility will be manufacturing the company’s ‘Energy Storage Vessels’ – for which it recently launched its second generation – with all aspects of design and process validation, manufacturing and testing performed onsite.
The company continues to increase its customer orders and currently has 7GWh of commitments, up from the 5GWh the company announced in July 2022. Among its customers are Pine Gate Renewables, a 250MWh supply deal with Nicon Industries’ Green Energy Renewable Solutions over the next three years, and Sonnell Power Solutions.
As noted in previous coverage on this site, the technology’s advantages include the ability to operate in ambient temperatures from -40°C to 60°C for a 30-year lifespan or roughly 30,000 cycles without degradation and at charge and discharge rates from C/10+ to 5C. It can also cost-effectively provide storage durations between 2 and 12 hours, EnerVenue claims.
“As customer interest in EnerVenue’s storage technology soars, we’re excited to significantly scale battery production with our new state-of-the-art gigafactory in Shelby County,” said Jorg Heinemann, CEO, EnerVenue.
“Following a nationwide vetting process, Kentucky emerged as the ideal fit to build our new facility. The state and county governments were committed to bringing manufacturing and clean energy jobs to the region, and we look forward to working with them as we build out operations.”
The technology for which the company is building a 1GWh factory in Kentucky was originally developed for use in space and brought down to earth and readied for mass production. Last year, EnerVenue’s CEO Jorg Heinemann positioned its nickel-hydrogen batteries as a simpler, safer and more versatile alternative to lithium-ion in a recent interview.
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