The Loan Programs Office (LPO) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a conditional loan commitment of up to 1.2 billion US dollars to ENTEK Lithium Separators. The loan will finance the construction of a facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, to manufacture lithium-ion battery separators. The final commitment is subject to the satisfaction of technical, legal and financial conditions.
Separators for more than one million EVs annually
The plant is expected to produce 1.72 billion square meters of separators annually – enough for approximately 1.9 million mid-size electric cars or 1.3 million electric SUVs. ENTEK plans to adapt the separators to various battery chemistries including NMC, NCA, LMFP, and LFP. In addition to electric vehicle customers, the separators will also be sold to battery manufacturers for energy storage systems.
763 construction jobs and 635 operational jobs
The announcement is part of the Investing in America agenda which aims to create good-paying jobs and grow the US clean energy economy. The project is expected to create 763 construction jobs and 635 operational jobs. In addition, the project supports the governmentʼs efforts to build reliable and environmentally responsible clean energy supply chains. This is intended to help the United States become less dependent on competing economies such as China.
