Group14 receives federal grant, plans to expand

MOSES LAKE — Battery materials manufacturer Group14 has received grant for up to $200 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its operations in Moses Lake. The company and Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) announced the grant in a press release Friday. 

The new grant will be used to build a facility to provide raw materials for the production of silicon batteries, according to a Group14 press release.  

“Manufacturing large commercial volumes of silicon-based battery materials in the U.S. required equivalently large-scale commercial access to silane gas,” the press release said. “This project is intended to install, commission and operate a U.S.-based silane manufacturing plant with an annual capacity of 7,200 metric tons,” the Group14 press release said. 

“The project is expected to create more than 300 jobs to construct the silane factory and retain 150 employees to commission, ramp up and sustain production,” wrote Katie Rolnick, senior communications manager for Group14, in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald.  

A battery-component manufacturing facility is under construction on Wheeler Road, and Moses Lake manager Don Kersey said construction is nearing completion. 

“We plan on producing material by the end of this year,” Kersey said in an August interview. 

The company will manufacture components for what its owners say is the next generation of battery technology. The company’s product is designed to replace lithium currently used in batteries with silicon, which its owners said in earlier interviews will last longer and is easier to charge. 

Silane is an important component in the company’s manufacturing process, and Group14 co-founder and chief executive officer Rick Luebbe wrote in the press release that the new facility would allow the company to reduce reliance on offshore sources. 

“The largest global source of silane today is China, so the supply of silane gas in the U.S. must be increased to secure the U.S. silicon battery industry,” Lubbe wrote. “A new silane factory in Washington will allow Group14 and other silicon battery companies in the U.S. to source this critical raw material domestically.”  

In her press release, Cantwell said the grant will help secure an important element of battery manufacture, benefit the battery industry in general and provide a boost to the state and Moses Lake economy. 

“The battery components that will be produced in Moses Lake will create good-paying local jobs. Group14 is working to manufacture batteries that will allow for faster charging electric cars that can go a lot farther between fill-ups,” Cantwell said.  

Group14 qualified for a grant of up to $100 million in 2022 through the same program, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed by Congress. 

Senator Patty Murray wrote in a press release that the grant will help in promoting the new industry.  

“This investment isn’t just bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to Moses Lake, it is bringing hundreds of jobs to Moses Lake and helping our country ramp up production of a key resource necessary to make batteries,” Murray said. “This facility will reduce America’s dependence on countries like China for silane gas and provide a crucial foundation to build even more domestic manufacturing of other products for years to come.” 

    The Group14 facility in Moses Lake. The company received a federal grant of up to $200 million to expand the facility to include silane gas manufacturing.