North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Cirba Solutions, a comprehensive battery management and materials company will build a $300 million integrated lithium-ion battery materials in Richland County, the company announced last week.
The coordinating council for economic development approved job development credits and council awarded a $3 million grant to Richland County to assist with the costs of site preparation and building construction.
“We are proud to bring this battery materials mega-site that will create generational jobs to the state and support an amazing community as well as show our commitment to provide sustainably sourced domestic battery grade raw materials for cathode production in North America,” said Cirba Solutions president and CEO David Klanecky.
Located at Pineview Industrial Park in Columbia, the facility is the first phase of the company’s plan to build a 400,000-square-foot, lithium-ion battery recycling and materials campus that will focus on processing end-of-life hybrid and EV batteries and gigafactory scrap to extract critical materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium.
These key metals will support the domestic lithium-ion battery supply chain and will provide enough premium recycled battery-grade metal salts to power over 500,000 electric vehicle batteries annually.
With a focus on sustainability, Cirba Solutions will process materials for use in batteries. The site will also be used as an educational and professional training center, highlighting processing technology for end-of-life batteries. The Richland County facility will be the company’s eighth operational facility in North America and the fourth facility strategically located in the U.S. “Battery Belt.”
The company is planning to invest over $1 billion in the sector over the next five years, to expand the infrastructure required to meet the growing demand for critical materials needed for EV lithium-ion batteries.
Operations are expected to begin in late 2024.
“Today’s announcement reinforces what we have all been watching locally and statewide – the electric vehicle industry is poised to succeed here,” said Central SC Alliance Chairman Matthew Shaffer. “As the industry’s presence grows, so does the need for companies like Cirba Solutions. Today, we celebrate Cirba Solutions’ future as part of the Richland County community and commend our partners in the county on this win.”