Dive Brief:

• e-Storage’s subsidiary Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing is investing approximately $712 million to establish a 6-gigawatt-hour battery cell, module and packaging manufacturing facility in Shelbyville, Kentucky, according to a Nov. 18 press release.
• The facility will span 1 million square feet and produce utility-scale battery energy storage systems, the company said in the release. 
• The investment will create 1,572 jobs. Production is set to begin by the end of 2025 and go full-scale by early 2026, according to e-Storage's press release.

Dive Insight:

Initial production capacity will start at 3 GWh annually with the goal to ramp up to 6 GWh through 2026, according to e-Storage President Colin Parkin.

The Shelbyville facility will also include a research and development lab that will cultivate collaboration with universities to expand its technologies, the company said in the release. 

The upcoming plant will be located at the I-64 Logistics Center, which is strategically located within miles of Ford’s truck and assembly plants, Louisville International Airport and UPS Worldport, according to a handout from commercial real estate firm CBRE.

Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing will deliver energy storage units to utility companies and project developers throughout the country in an effort to strengthen grid resilience, reduce carbon emissions and support the U.S.’s clean energy goals.

“These self-contained, modular solutions are crucial to advancing renewable energy adoption across the United States by making solar and wind energy reliable and dispatchable,” e-Storage said in a statement.

Shelbyville’s upcoming facility will be part of the state’s growing battery manufacturing ecosystem. Japan-based AESC is building a $2 billion electric vehicle and energy storage battery facility in Bowling Green, set to open in 2025. Ford Motor Co. is also building two joint battery facilities with SK On.