MOSES LAKE, Wash. — President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and the U.S. Department of Energy announced two companies are planning to build battery component manufacturing facilities in Moses Lake.

The two facilities will get $100 million each from a new Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Program intended to help increase domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the electric grid.

Group14 Technologies Inc. and Sila Nanotechnologies will each get grants from the DOE’s Battery Materials Processing and Battery Component Manufacturing & Recycling program. Both of these companies focus on bringing silicon anodes that can replace graphite anodes commonly used in electric batteries.

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell says silicon anodes should result in less expensive and more energy-dense battery packs that can be built with U.S. materials.

“The historic investments Congress made over the past two years are helping solve the next-generation battery storage technology challenges right here in Washington,” Senator Cantwell said. “These two cutting-edge companies will not only use domestically sourced materials to make electric vehicles more affordable, they will be creating hundreds of high paying jobs that will help transform Moses Lake into an epicenter of clean energy manufacturing.”

Group14 Technologies Inc. is building two, 2,000-ton-per-year commercial manufacturing modules in Moses Lake, creating a total of 500 jobs (300 for skilled trade jobs and 200 for technical and operations jobs).

Sila Nanotechnologies will build a 600,000-square-foot facility, and they are expected to train and hire 150-300 technologists through the completion of the project.

DOE gave $2.8 billion in grants to 20 similar manufacturing and processing companies across 12 states. The projects will help with:

Developing enough battery-grade lithium to supply approximately 2 million EVs annually
Developing enough battery-grade graphite to supply approximately 1.2 million EVs annually
Producing enough battery-grade nickel to supply approximately 400,000 EVs annually
Installing the first large-scale, commercial lithium electrolyte salt (LiPF6) production facility in the United States
Developing an electrode binder facility capable of supplying 45% of the anticipated domestic demand for binders for EV batteries in 2030
Creating the first commercial scale domestic silicon oxide production facilities to supply anode materials for an estimated 600,000 EV batteries annually
Installing the first lithium iron phosphate cathode facility in the United States
“Everybody is very excited about it and in the long run once those companies get up and running at full capacity we’ll have a considerable amount of new jobs in the community,” Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce CEO & President Debbie Doran-Martinez.

We don’t know exactly how much the jobs will pay, but Martinez says they’ll be high paying even more than traditional agriculture work.

It isn’t the first time major companies have laid down roots in the city of Moses Lake.

“Moses Lake is a great location to land your business, your manufacturing company because we do have available land and water at a reasonable price, and then the biggest attraction is our inexpensive green power,” Doran-Martinez said.

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