PROSPERITY, Pa. (WBOY) – A A $9.8 million grant has been approved by the U.S. Department of Energy to fund the creation of a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) feedstock production facility in Taylor County.who has under construction since 2022.

Officials from the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), along with battery manufacturer SPARKZ, held a news conference Tuesday to outline details of the project.

“First, it will create jobs,” said SPARKZ founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra. “We are looking at the first phase, which will essentially be creating a one-of-a-kind factory.”

Malhotra added that this factory will be the first of its kind in the United States to produce the materials for this particular type of lithium battery. During the first phase, they expect to create around 75 jobs.

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For workers, the facility will specifically partner with UMWA to hire displaced coal mine workers. According to Malhotra, UMWA will recruit workers and train them at the Ruff Creek plant in Prosperity, Pennsylvania, where the announcement took place, before placing them in the production facility.

Malhotra said LFP batteries use no nickel or cobalt, making them 100% US-sourced. He added that these LFPs can be used for three different applications: electric vehicles, energy storage (used for buildings, grids and even homes), and commercial and off-road vehicles.

“So this is basically a broad application area for this particular type of lithium battery,” Malhotra added.

Malhotra said that currently the facility, which is the former AGC glass plant near Bridgeport, is about half a million square feet. However, the entire land is approximately 100 acres.

He estimates the facility can still expand, but it will take six months to a year to completely upgrade the building’s infrastructure. Malhotra says the “basic infrastructure” is already in place.

“It’s a very sturdy building,” he added. “But we need to modernize it for this particular type of manufacturing.”

SPARKZ has been working with UMWA for about three years to bring this project to fruition, so Malhotra is very excited to get started now that they have secured millions of dollars in grants. Ali Zaidi, White House National Climate Advisor to President Biden, also visited Prosperity to participate in the event and address attendees.

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