KORE Power, Inc. has finalized the purchase of 214 acres in Buckeye, Arizona which will be the site of the KOREPlex, a two million square foot manufacturing facility which will have the capacity to produce 12 GWh of lithium-ion battery cells annually, bringing thousands of jobs to the Valley of the Sun.
The KOREPlex will ensure a reliable and independent U.S. supply chain for lithium-ion battery cells that are critical to the future of electric vehicles, power grids and more. The facility will have the capacity to produce enough batteries to power 3.2 million homes each year.
“We’ve long been committed to bringing the KOREPlex to Buckeye and today’s announcement brings us closer to realizing that vision,” said Lindsay Gorrill, the CEO and Founder of KORE Power. “With the land secured, we can now move forward with our schedule to begin construction later this year and keep us on track to provide U.S.-made lithium-ion cells to EV and storage solution providers.”
During the land acquisition process, the KORE team refined the design of the project, including expanding the facility size from one million square feet to two million square feet. The KOREPlex will be powered by on-site solar and storage, making it a net-zero facility. With construction set to begin this summer, the company now expects the facility to be fully operational in 2024.
KORE is partnering with the City of Buckeye to make the KOREPlex an anchor of the Sustainable Valley and is working to attract other energy industry supply chain companies, end-users, and recycling companies to the community. The goal of the Sustainable Valley is to grow a full ecosystem for U.S.-made energy storage and electric vehicle products that capture the entire lifecycle of components. The company is working with local universities and research teams to ensure the next generation of battery technologies are launched in the Valley.
“KORE Power and the City of Buckeye are aligned on a strategy to make the Valley of the Sun the Sustainable Valley by bringing clean technologies here to thrive,” said Seema Phull, Chief Operating Officer at KORE Power. “The KOREPlex is a cornerstone of that plan.”
Founded in 2018, KORE leveraged the experience of its contract manufacturing partner to build and deploy more than 10 million battery cells to its global customer base in the electric transportation and energy storage sectors. The 12 GWh KOREPlex facility will add to the company’s current annual production capacity of 2 GWh. KORE is also expanding its offshore capacity to 8 GWh, which will give it 20 GWh of annual capacity when the KOREPlex is fully operational.
Last month, KORE announced the launch of KORE Solutions, a new division providing a full scope of American-made energy storage solutions. The new division makes KORE the first U.S.-based, vertically integrated energy storage solution provider. Earlier this year, the company announced a supply agreement with anode manufacturer NOVONIX. It has also announced a supply agreement with the Glendale-based Zero Electric Vehicles, Inc. (ZEV) that ensures the availability of KORE’s certified e-mobility battery modules through 2030 to be used in ZEV’s electric powertrain kits.