EnerVenue announces energy storage factory opening in Kentucky

EnerVenue, a battery technology company, announced Tuesday it will be opening a one-million-square-foot gigafactory in Shelby County, Ky.

The 73-acre site will become the company’s manufacturing plant for its Energy Storage Vessels, and all aspects of design and process validation, manufacturing, and testing will be performed there. Company officials said EnerVenue expects to invest more than $1 billion to expand the plant once the initial project phase producing one gigawatt hour of annual production is completed.

“Locating EnerVenue’s gigafactory in Kentucky is a win for the commonwealth,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “Our leadership has prioritized bringing high-quality jobs to the region, and this is yet another example of those efforts paying dividends.”

The factory will create 450 full-time jobs during the first production phase.

As part of the economic development deal, Shelby County offered EnerVenue a long-term incentive package with property and wage tax rebates totaling $20 million over 25 years. The state of Kentucky also offered EnerVenue more than $10.3 million in tax incentives for the company’s first phase of production. Officials said the tax rebates would help the county grow and incentivize future development as the factory expands and adds more jobs.

“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,” Jorg Heinemann, CEO of EnerVenue, said. “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.”