In the largest single investment in the city’s history, Chatham-Kent has been selected by Canadian Energies Ltd. for its clean energy manufacturing. While the details have yet to be shared, the next steps will likely be securing approval and support from the provincial and federal governments for the $2 billion facility, though financial support is not needed to get the project off the ground.
The proposed solar panel and sodium-ion battery manufacturing facility is expected to create 2,500 direct jobs when operating at full capacity, with another 1,700 indirect, ancillary, or support jobs. Three or four sites have been identified and if all goes to plan, the 10-gigawatt facility is expected to be underway in the coming months.
Citing the support of the city as well as the established workforce, supply-chain infrastructure, production expertise, proximity to transmission capacity eliminating costly grid upgrade requirements, and continental distribution advantages through highway, rail, and shipping access, the community makes sense for the development.
Once complete, the massive integrated gigafactory campus will be one of the largest domestic clean technology manufacturing initiatives in Canadian history.
