Second Battery Plant Coming to Holland

(Holland, MI - WHTC News) - Holland may be the Tulip City now, but it could become the Battery City shortly.

Officials of Compact Power are expected to announce this afternoon the construction of a battery-making plant. The subsidiary of Korean-based LG-Chem will spend 303 million dollars on building a 650 thousand square foot facility over the next 18 months on 120 acres near Waverly Road and 48^th Street on Holland’s southeast corner. When fully operational by 2013, the factory is expected to have more than 400 employees involved in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, mainly for GM’s Chevrolet Volt electric car.

This announcement has been anticipated for several months, ever since Compact Power secured a 151 million-dollar federal grant last fall, along with state and local tax incentives. The city of Holland even spent over 800 thousand dollars to buy land in neighboring Fillmore Township for the project, although LG-Chem will reimburse the municipal coffers once annexation and zoning issues are settled later this spring.

Groundbreaking on the plant is slated for sometime this summer, and when completed, it would be the second such factory in Holland. JCI-Saft is already working on converting the Meadowbrook Plant on 48^th Street into making lithium-ion batteries for several companies, including Ford, by next summer, with around 550 workers on hand there.

-Gary Stevens, WHTC/WYVN News