Shawn Qu, center, the founder of Canadian Solar, at a news conference Friday morning about a new battery factory in Shelby County.
Governor Andy Beshear, local Shelby County elected officials and leaders of a Canadian manufacturer announced a nearly $712 million battery factory expected to be operational in Shelbyville by the end of 2025.
The Canadian company e-storage Through its subsidiary, Shelbyville Battery Manufacturing will establish a factory in Shelbyville to build 6 gigawatt-hour battery cells at scale. These cells are modular and can be packed into containers, creating large batteries that electric utilities can use for energy storage.
The announcement is expected to create 1,572 jobs over 15 years, considered the largest economic development announcement in Shelby County history and the third largest announcement during Beshear’s time as governor.
“Our promise is that this facility will be so profitable that they’ll come back and say, ‘Maybe we can do a little bit more.’ Maybe we can even go a little bit bigger,” Beshear said at an event at the Capitol this morning. “But we are thrilled with this monumental announcement today and how Kentucky will continue to move Kentucky to the forefront of our national economy.”
Utilities across the country are investing significantly in battery storage systemsincreasingly in combination with emission-free renewable energy systems such as solar and wind energy. Such energy sources are considered “intermittently,” This means that they only produce electricity when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing. But when combined with battery systems, such energy sources can charge batteries to provide essentially emission-free power 24 hours a day.
Shawn Qu, the founder of Canadian Solar, the parent company of e-Storage, told a gathered audience in the state capital that utility-scale batteries would become increasingly important with the expected increase in electricity demand, driven by artificial intelligence and increased domestic production.
“Battery cells are the heart of a utility-scale energy storage system. Therefore, this project will put Kentucky at the center of efforts to build a robust and secure power grid for this country,” said Qu.
Shelby County Judge-Executive Dan Ison praised the work of the governor, Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers and state lawmakers representing Shelby County in securing the project, and Shelbyville Mayor Troy Ethington called the announcement “transformative.”
“Shelbyville continues to be one of the fastest growing communities in the Commonwealth, and we have been preparing for a moment like this over the past four to five years,” Ethington said. “Our local economy will experience a renaissance. We are proud of the strong small businesses in our Shelbyville community, and this expansion will give them the support they need to thrive.”
e-Storage is eligible for up to $35 million in tax credits if it is able to create the expected jobs and pay an average hourly wage of $25.34 for those jobs.
