Augusta polymers plant wins $178 million grant to build electric-vehicle battery parts
An Augusta polymers plant has received a $178 million federal grant to build a companion facility to produce battery components for electric vehicles.
The proposed new plant could bring as many as 500 construction jobs and 100 manufacturing jobs to the Augusta area, U.S. Sen Raphael Warnock’s office announced in a statement Wednesday.
Solvay Specialty Polymers won the grant through the Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing and Recycling program, a program funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy announced.
Recycled copper: Aurubis Richmond in Augusta will be the nation's first recycled-copper smelter
Augusta headquarters: Japanese manufacturer to build North American headquarters in Augusta
With the dollar amount marking just the investment in a new facility, the real economic impact numbers for the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area will likely “end up being higher than that,” said Cal Wray, executive director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, which wrote a letter to the DOE earlier this year in support of Solvay’s grant application.
"Between a couple-hundred million investment, a couple-hundred jobs that are well-paid, I think it’s great for the area,” he said. “Augusta’s got a concentration of about 23,000 people who work in manufacturing in the MSA. This just adds to that. Solvay has some of the best paid manufacturing jobs in the area, so I’d assume that would continue to be the case.”
The factory is expected to manufacture electric battery-grade binders and separator coatings, which are crucial components for lithium-ion batteries that power EVs.
Belgium-headquartered Solvay acquired its current Augusta facility from BP Amoco in 2000, and since then has regularly invested in increasing its product lines and capacity. In 2015 it announced an $85 million local expansion.
“As we’ve seen lately there’s been a lot of EV looking in the Southeast, looking in Augusta. You already have Aurubis and Denkai in that same industry here,” Wray said. “Solvay’s had a facility here for years. It’s been continually growing and they’re continually investing in it. This is just an added benefit to what they’ve already been doing here.”
In June, German company Aurubis AG broke ground in south Richmond County on a $340 million copper recycling and smelting plant, dubbed Aurubis Richmond, which will process about 90,000 tons of complex recycling materials annually to extract about 35,000 tons of blister copper. Copper is one of the most in-demand finished products that goes into making EVs.
In July, Japanese manufacturer Denkai America announced the construction of a $430 million south Augusta manufacturing plant. Denkai produces copper foil used in printed electronics such as circuit boards.
“Georgia is open for business, and today’s announcement is good news for both Georgia’s growing clean energy economy and Augusta workers," Warnock said in a statement Wednesday.
“We are proud to receive the federal government’s support for manufacturing technologies that will provide the U.S. with critical raw materials for building an independent, sustainable EV value chain," said Mike Finelli, president of Solvay Growth Platforms and chief North American officer. "This grant reaffirms Solvay’s leadership in developing a robust and resilient domestic battery supply chain that brings important clean energy jobs to the U.S."
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Solvay to build Augusta battery-parts plant with $178 million grant
