Officials stress importance of independent green energy during Moses Lake visit

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake has what it takes to be the hub of the Northwest’s clean energy technology, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, said at a press conference Thursday. “I think there's going to be a corridor, from Moses Lake all the way over to Coeur d’Alene,” Cantwell said. “That's what I think is gonna happen. And this corridor is also going to connect from Moses Lake to the Tri-Cities. What you're seeing is, in this whole area, guess what we have? We have ... a manufacturing workforce, we have a lot of land, we have cheap hydro and we have people who really understand energy technology.” Cantwell was speaking at Group14’s BAM-2 facility in Moses Lake, which is under construction and expected to be the largest advanced silicon battery material factory in the world when it opens later this year, according to company-supplied materials. Group14 manufactures silicon battery materials that can increase the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries like those found in both electric vehicles and smartphones, replacing less-efficient graphite, which must be imported from China.