The U.S. government is seeking battery manufacturing and recycling projects to invest $500 million to strengthen the national critical mineral and materials industries.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently announced the Department of Energy’s notice of funding opportunity for the Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling grant programs.
“For too long, the United States has relied on hostile foreign actors to supply and process the critical materials that are essential in battery manufacturing and materials processing,” Wright stated.
The DOE wants the investments to increase U.S. supply chain resilience and lessen dependence by up to 15% in four years on foreign sources for key critical minerals, materials and battery components.
Batteries are vital for drones, energy (such as grid resilience and data centers), transportation and other defense applications.
Critical minerals and materials used in batteries include aluminum, cobalt, copper, fluorspar, graphite, lithium, manganese and nickel. Proposed projects that involve lithium, nickel and cobalt have been designated as high priority.
The U.S. government added copper (used in electronics, building construction, transportation, industrial machinery and consumer goods) as one of six new additions to its new list of critical minerals.
A rare earth metal called samarium that is used in defense, cancer treatments and navigation has been named by the U.S. Geological Survey as the weakest link in the critical mineral supply chain.
Domestic projects of interest to DOE are:
- Critical materials processing from raw feedstocks,
- Battery materials and component manufacturing, and
- Critical materials recycling.
Winning projects must support demonstration and/or commercial facilities for processing, recycling, or using for manufacturing of critical materials that may be traditional battery minerals or other minerals in commercially available batteries.
Financial Requirements
Applications must support processing, manufacturing, or recycling that directly impact advanced battery manufacturing and supply chains.
The DOE defines an advanced battery as a battery cell that can be integrated into a module, pack, or system to be used in energy storage applications, including electric vehicles and the electric grid.
The minimum federal grant for a new commercial scale facility is $100 million and $50 million for retrofit facilities.
“This is a statutory requirement and applications submitted that do not meet the requirements will be considered non-compliant,” according to the DOE.
Successful applicants are expected to comply with estimated cost-share commitments outlined in their applications.
The DOE requires at least 50% of total costs to be shared for demonstration or commercial projects.
In addition, cost shares are to be derived from non-federal sources (unless otherwise allowed by law) that may include project participants, state or local governments, or other third-party financing.
DOE Proposal Submission Deadline
The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. Eastern time on April 24.
