Valence Technologies applies for $255 DOE grant to build batteries
Battery manufacturer Valence Technology has big plans to expand its manufacturing capacity. To help pay for the investment, the Austin, Texas-based company has applied for a $225 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative. Valence plans to put another $359.4 million from other state and local incentive programs into the project. $2 billion was set aside by Congress for the grant program in the stimulus bill passed earlier this year. Valence has already been manufacturing lithium iron magnesium phosphate batteries overseas. It now wants to add U.S. production in Texas to supply the U.S. auto industry. The company has chosen Leander, Texas, north of Austin as the site for the plant and plans to employ 2,700 people by 2012 and 4,000 by 2016. Valence has also previously applied for low interest loans for the project through the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Incentive Program, but no announcements have yet been made about awards from that program.
[Source: Valence Technology]
Valence Applies for Federal Grant to Construct Advanced Battery Production Facility
Proposed Central Texas Plant Potentially Online in 2012 with Expected Full Operational Capacity by 2016 Providing up to 4,000 Jobs
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Valence Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNC), a leading U.S.-based manufacturer and supplier of lithium iron magnesium phosphate energy storage solutions, today announced it has submitted a grant application to the U.S. Department of Energy under the Electric Drive Vehicle Battery and Component Manufacturing Initiative. This initiative supports the construction of facilities to manufacture advanced battery technology components for electric vehicles. The company's proposed facility would manufacture lithium phosphate cathode material, high-capacity advanced cells and battery packs for electric drive vehicles and other applications.
Valence submitted its application requesting $225 million in federal grant funds over a three-year period and plans to fund the remaining $359.4 million (61.5% of the total project costs) through state and local tax and other incentives. The annual production capacity of the proposed facility is estimated to be 660,000 battery packs or more than one million kilowatt hours (kWh) of equivalent available energy and can be online as early as August 2012. This grant application is a separate request from the Company's March loan application under the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program (ATVMIP). Funds under both programs are available to qualified companies.
"Our recent grant proposal includes an aggressive construction plan for manufacturing capacity that exceeds the Department of Energy specifications," said Ross Goolsby, Valence Chief Financial Officer. "We can put this manufacturing plant online in the U.S. and begin production quickly because after 20 years in business we already possess the manufacturing know-how, comprehensive intellectual property portfolio, next-generation technology and experience needed to deliver results and generate new jobs."
Funds totalling $2 billion for grants under this initiative have been appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which aims to stimulate the economy and create new American jobs by specifically utilizing renewable energy technologies that will shift the nation to a low-carbon economy.
"Texas knows energy and as a United States public corporation we appreciate Texas' determination to become the leader of the next energy evolution. Valence Technology wants to put that expertise to work with this grant. We've already demonstrated our manufacturing capability overseas and know we can bring our technology and manufacturing expertise to Texas, putting more Americans to work sooner rather than later with safe lithium phosphate technology," said Robert L. Kanode, Valence President & CEO.
"We're pulling together infrastructure and suppliers to rally around our high quality, proven battery systems. The multiplier from our success will mean success for the region, attracting industries with next generation technologies. Valence Technology already has the capabilities to produce and deliver large-format energy solutions for electric drive vehicles, hybrids and other applications. Funds from this grant are important to ensure advanced battery jobs and advanced technologies grow and thrive on U.S. soil," continued Kanode.
"With significant incentives projected from the state, county and city governments, Leander, Texas, was chosen as the primary site for our advanced battery manufacturing plant," added Goolsby. "Both State and City officials have demonstrated incredible support for the plan to provide up to 2,700 new, high-tech jobs in the Central Texas region by 2012 and up to 4,000 jobs by 2016. The State of Texas, Williamson County and the City of Leander are projecting and seeking approval of more than $150 million in incentives over a ten-year period."
This past March, Valence Technology submitted an application to the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program for low interest loans to help finance the construction of this new world-class lithium iron magnesium phosphate battery manufacturing facility.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt 9:46AM (6/02/2009)
Two hundred and fifty five dollars, huh? Do they really need a loan? (I know, 255M, but the title says $255 :)
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Ryan 12:29PM (6/02/2009)
I can loan them that if they agree to my 5000% interest rate.
Tim 12:31PM (6/02/2009)
Belly up to the bar, boys.
The corporate welfare is on the stupid taxpayers and the public debt is bottomless.
Man, this is going to be one HELL of a hangover and just wait until we see the tab in the form of hyperinflation!!!!!
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polo 1:04PM (6/02/2009)
Where were you bleeding heart rethuglicans when Bush was giving the oil companies $50billion in subsidies? Or when McCain was proposing $4TRILLION in tax breaks and subsidies to corporations, oil companies, and the 1%ers??? Now you run around whining about every subsidy and tax credit as if you just learned these things existed.
Tim 1:22PM (6/02/2009)
polo,
REAL conservatives (not the NeoCon BS type) hated both BUSH and McSame because they are just Statist-Fascists in fake conservative coats.
Now we have the Obamanation who thinks “change” is MORE of the same and NEVER does what he says he is doing. With him we get MORE war, MORE debt, MORE big gov’t, LESS liberty, LESS personal and corporate responsibility, LESS chance of obtaining the “American Dream” and Corporate Fascism.
YOU think party... simpleton.
WE true conservatives think policy, individual liberty and personal responsibility!
We like politicians who actually HONOR their OATH of office by NOT stealing money or liberty from their neighbors just to buy support from giant corporations or those in society who are NOT pulling their own weight.
Social responsibility means NOT being a burden on you neighbor and pulling YOU OWN weight. This goes for individuals and businesses.
DasBoese 8:56AM (6/03/2009)
Corporate welfare?
More like "the price of innovation". And it is well worth paying, lest companies with innovative technologies take their businesses and know-how elsewhere.
Tim 9:35AM (6/03/2009)
Dasboese,
So you believe that competition is a bad thing? I guess profits are bad too? What about risk/reward dynamics? Is human nature also bad? If you hate human nature, you must also hate natural law and therefore you hate nature in general. If you hate nature so much, you must also hate yourself. Why do you even care if we “go green”?
Why, should taxpayer finance their innovation? Why should we take the risk while they reap the rewards in huge profits selling their products back to us? I'm not employed by them and I don't supply them in any way, so you can't say that it "helps me indirectly".
If they want the rewards, THEY should bear the risk!
So you LOVE giant corporations receiving taxpayer funds. Apparently, you think we are just serfs to the giant corporation/giant gov't partnership and that's the way it SHOULD be? You either NEED to be told what to do, or you LOVE telling others what to do.
You sir, are a weak-minded, scared little fascist!
Chris M 2:09PM (6/02/2009)
From the figures given, it sounds like most of those battery packs will be sized for hybrids and limited range plug-in hybrids. The battery chemistry they are using is noted for very high cycle counts and high power and good heat resistance, but it has a lower energy density than some other types of LiIon chemistry, so it is less likely to be used for battery only EV applications.
Still, there probably is a market for lightweight batteries for several hundred thousand hybrids and PHEVs every year!
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Ben 3:49PM (6/02/2009)
Tim, I like what you say but not how you say it. "Green" and "Free" can live side by side. I think we will find the answer in respect and enforcement of property rights, not in the distribution of reckless subsidies. In addition, believe it or not, liberty will not prevail without the intellectual leadership of a diverse set of backgrounds.
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Tim 4:18PM (6/02/2009)
Ben,
I totally agree with you that economic “Liberty” and “Green” can and MUST live together for either to flourish. In fact, America’s current oil addiction is BECAUSE of gov’t intervention using taxpayer money or military power to prop up the Big Oil Company pushers.
Had the free market been allowed to work without taxpayer money being given to oil companies or used to bribe foreign gov’ts while the CIA sets-up US puppet regimes, we would not be having an endless war on a tactic known as “terror” and oil would have become so expensive that the free market would have found an alternative many years ago.
Yet some believe that MORE gov’t intervention is the answer? MORONS!
Has the market been free? Is it to blame for our current economic woes? Here is a good article on the subject:
Deliberately Misplaced Blame: http://mises.org/story/3404
Another good article:
The Story of American Revisionism: http://mises.org/story/3434
The Mises Institute predicted the current economic problems 25 years ago!
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Ben 4:38PM (6/02/2009)
Tim, do you or anyone else know of good analysis or scholarly reports by the Austrian School or liberty groups regarding the protection of environment and natural resources by non-governmental means. The more I think about it, the more I believe most of us are under the spell of the 2 party political system and we just need answers to the policies we want the most (e.g. stopping climate change and other environmental nasties), then we all want freedom. You and I have come to the mutual conclusion that freedom is a necessary initial condition to accomplishing these goals.
Tim 5:33PM (6/02/2009)
Hi Ben,
Go to http://mises.org/ and do a search for "environment".
There is a lot of information about being a "good steward" of your environment makes good economic sense and locals know more about their environment than a politician in Washington or lobbyists with their hands out for taxpayer funds.
Most people take better care of their own things than they do with someone else’s. The same holds true with environmental issues and competition for taxpayers means that when pollution is a state or local issue, they can compete with each other to improve the living environment of their citizen taxpayers.
Free market competition = better quality & more innovation at lower costs.
Federal (central planning) monopoly = poor quality, no innovation and high costs.
Don’t believe me? Just look to the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republic.
Enjoy the reading. Socialists only watch CNBC or listen to the liberal Keynesian professors who have never worked in the "real world", owned a company or had to make payroll.
It was Keynesian-socialist gov't central planning that caused our current financial mess.