Entek lands $1.2B federal funding commitment for Terre Haute plant
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The U.S. Department of Energy has a made conditional commitment to provide a direct loan of up to $1.2 billion for Oregon-based Entek’s battery separator manufacturing facility in Terre Haute.
The company broke ground last September on the 1.4 million-square-foot facility, which is expected to result in 635 new jobs by the end of 2027.
When operational, the facility will produce battery separators for lithium-ion battery manufacturers across the country. The company is already a contracted supplier to Idaho-based Kore Power, which will use the battery separators at its facility in Arizona.
A battery separator is a micro-porous membrane that goes between the positive and negative side, or the anode and cathode, that insulates the batteries from shorting out, Entek CEO Larry Keith told Inside INdiana Business in March 2023.
The loan will come from the DOE’s Loan Programs Office. However, the DOE noted in a news release Tuesday that while the conditional commitment indicates its intent to finance the project, the company must meet certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the loan is awarded.
An Entek spokesperson tells Inside INdiana Business that the company and the DOE will work to finalize the loan over the next few months.
When the project was first announced, Entek’s investment was estimated at $1.5 billion. However, the spokesperson said the investment has increased to $1.7 billion due to rising costs.
Entek says the facility in Terre Haute will be the first phase of an expansion to produce about 1.4 billion square meters of lithium-ion battery separators. The new location will initially have eight production lines, but Keith said that number could expand to 18.
Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2025, and officials anticipate the plant to be fully operational in 2028.