Rochester's Li-Cycle awarded $375M DOE loan for expansion. How many jobs could it create here?
On Monday morning, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that Li-Cycle, a Toronto-based lithium-ion battery recycler with a facility at Eastman Business Park, has been awarded a $375 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The federal funding will help finance the expansion of Li-Cycle's lithium-ion battery resource recovery facility in Rochester. That expansion is expected to create 1,000 new construction jobs and 270 permanent jobs at the Li-Cycle facility once completed, Schumer said.
“The Department of Energy projects that with this investment, Li-Cycle is going to become the largest supplier of lithium-carbonate in all of America right here in Rochester, New York,” Schumer said at a news conference at the Greece facility. “That means Rochester-made materials will power an entire, new generation of US-made electric vehicles.”
Electric vehicles require materials that are hard to create but also contain highly reusable materials. Recycling metals like cobalt, nickel, and lithium can cut carbon emissions, facilitate the safe disposal of batteries, and create a domestic supply chain that lessens the country's dependence on overseas production.
"This DOE investment in Li-Cycle will reduce our reliance on China,” Schumer said.
Schumer said that with the investment in the technology and workforce he expects that the country “will roar back to life because of work done here by Rochester’s an Li-Cycle’s powerhouse workforce.”
Rochester, he said, has the “one of the most well-educated, hardest-working, dedicated workface in the country.”
Schumer has been pushing for Li-Cycle to receive funding from the Inflation Reduction Act since his visit to the Rochester hub in September 2022. He believes the offshore reliance "raises costs for working families, jeopardizes livelihoods and compromises U.S. national security."
Li-Cycle Co-Founder, President and CEO Ajay Kochhar said, "We expect the Rochester Hub will position Li-Cycle as a leading domestic producer of recycled battery-grade materials for accelerating electrification demand to address climate change and secure energy independence."
At the news conference, Kochhar said he is "very proud" of the work the company has done since it was founded in 2016, and what they will continue to do as part of what he described as the "clean tech industrial revolution," a heavy industry that is enabling the clean energy transition.
Experts predict that the Rochester facility will provide the batteries for approximately 203,000 electric vehicles annually, reducing gasoline use by about 80.6 million gallons per year, according to an EPA emissions calculator.
"I am thrilled the Department of Energy has recognized the enormous potential of Li-Cycle's Rochester Hub and is choosing to invest not just in them but in the future of our clean energy economy," said Congressman Joe Morelle.
Contact Robert Bell at: rlbell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @byrobbell & Instagram: @byrobbell. This coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
Includes reporting by staff writer Victoria Freile
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Li-Cycle awarded $375M DOE loan for expansion in Rochester NY
