$75M investment helps KORE Power join parade of Battery Manufacturers building in U.S.
Battery energy storage developer KORE Power has gained a infusion of investment from several big energy players and will use that money to help in building a gigafactory in the Phoenix area.
KORE Power has closed the approximately $75 million first tranche of a planned $150 million private funding placement. Siemens Financial Services was the lead investor, joined by Quanta Services, Nidec Motor Corp., Honeywell Ventures and Trog Hawley Capital.
KORE is the latest of many energy transition firms, particularly in the renewables, e-mobility and energy storage sectors, which have announced plans to either locate manufacturing or have announced specific factory plans in the U.S. Those include MicroVast, FirstSolar, FREYR, Ambient Photonics, Cummins, Envision AESC and ABB, among others.
The company will break ground on the KOREPlex gigafactory in Buckeye, Arizona this year. The manufacturing aims for producing 6 GWh of lithium-ion cell capacity per year, with the potential to expand to 12 GWh.
Output of the battery cells to energy storage and EV sector companies could begin by 2024, according to KORE’s plans.
“As a U.S.-based manufacturer with the ability to supply top-tier lithium-ion cells, the KOREPlex will take us to the next level. We will have American workers and an American supply chain driving the growth of clean energy and vehicle electrification,” said Lindsay Gorrill, CEO and Co-Founder of KORE Power. “In the coming months, we expect to announce additional agreements demonstrating our commitment to building a domestic supply chain for the KOREPlex and embracing a circular lifecycle for our products.”
Most of the supply chain for the KORE lithium-ion cells will be sourced domestically, due to requirements and incentives available from the U.S. Infrastructure and Inflation Reduction Acts. Leaders at numerous firms have highlighted the tax credits and other benefits tied to the recent IRA passage as motivations for moving manufacturing in the U.S.
“Strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities for battery cells will be critical to the transformation and build out of energy infrastructure in the United States,” said Andrew Schwaitzberg, leader of energy transition initiatives at Quanta Services. “We are excited to invest and partner alongside leading energy innovators who also understand the importance of building and supporting a robust domestic supply chain. We expect our strategic alliance with KORE to enhance Quanta’s ability to deliver comprehensive energy solutions in partnership with our customers.”
In April, KORE announced it had closed on acquisition of the Buckeye, Arizona property needed for the KOREPlex gigafactory. It is planned as a 2 million square foot manufacturing site.
The company currently produces about 2 GWh in annual generation capacity. Earlier it signed a deal to supply battery modules to fleet electrification supplier Zero Electric Vehicles Inc.
KORE is headquartered in Idaho and also has offices and operations in Vermont as well as Arizona.
Once completed, the KORE, Envision AESC, FREYR and Microvast manufacturing plants combined could generate close to 80 GWh in annual battery energy capacity for both stationary and transportation markets.
These manufacturing announcements come even as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory benchmarking report indicate that utility-scale energy storage costs rose 13 percent earlier this year.-- -- --
(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).
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