Building a battery plant: the road so far

Article content

In the less than nine months since news broke that a $5-billion electric vehicle battery plant — and thousands of jobs with it — would be built in Windsor, work to prepare more than 220 acres of land for the factory has proceeded with lightning speed.

Article content

As construction of the largest private-sector investment in Ontario history moves forward, the Star took a look back at the project’s many milestones this year.

Article content

In March, top brass from LG Energy Solution and Stellantis — the partners behind the joint venture NextStar Energy Inc. — joined local, provincial, and federal leaders in business and politics at a warehouse on Twin Oaks Drive. There, the planned 4.5-million-square-foot factory was first made official.

“So much work had gone into it before we could announce it publicly,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told the Star in a recent interview. “It was hard holding back the enthusiasm that we all had — but no one would risk whispering a peep because it was just so important.”

Article content

Since then, the pace at which the city has been able to prepare for the factory has been unlike anything Dilkens said he has ever seen.

“This is us responding in real-time to a very aggressive project schedule that the joint venture has,” he said. “City staff have done an incredible job. Everyone just rode in the same direction.”

To land the factory, Canada’s first large-scale lithium-ion battery production plant with a capacity to annually produce 45 gigawatts, the city agreed to quickly consolidate and prepare the necessary industrial lands. The city already owned 37.9 acres and was tasked with purchasing the remaining 188.5 acres, ultimately at a cost to local taxpayers of $45 million.

To pay for the land, city council in May voted unanimously in support of taking out a loan, specifically the issuance of debentures to Infrastructure Ontario. It was the first time in years that council agreed to take on new tax-supported debt.

Article content

Council also voted to incorporate an $8-million expenditure for site servicing into Windsor’s 2023 capital budget. Site servicing included having to move an open drain that crossed the middle of the property. 

To fast-track land preparation, the city in June sought help from the province in the form of a Minister’s Zoning Order which can override local planning authority to have developments approved in situations of extraordinary urgency.

The city’s request, which first required an archeological assessment, a species at risk assessment, and a traffic impact study, was approved by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing in August. As a result, rezoning for some of the 15 land parcels not previously designated for manufacturing use was expedited without being subject to appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal or requiring public consultation.

Article content

Also in August, council approved a community improvement plan application that will see roughly $68 million in municipal grants for the joint venture over 20 years. It was the final of several significant incentives the city committed to in order to secure the plant.

The joint venture will be taxed at current agricultural rates for the first two decades. The $68 million will reportedly offset approximately five per cent of eligible building construction costs and permit fees incurred by NextStar.

Work is now underway between the city and the NextStar design team on plans for improvements to Twin Oaks Drive and E. C. Row Avenue.

In September, a Port of Windsor report estimated that a million tonnes of aggregate would be transported through its harbour facilities as part of battery plant construction preparation. Transporting that much aggregate from the port to the factory site is estimated to require as many as 400 truckloads per day over several months.

Article content

More than 200 acres of land have been cleared, 195,000 cubic metres of topsoil has been stripped and stockpiled, and 150,000 cubic metres of clay has been applied on-site.

“It’s been great, but I also acknowledge to the residents that they’ve had to put up with quality-of-life issues,” Dilkens said. “You hear the pile-driving going on out there … and thousands of gravel trucks have gone from the gravel pit near Sand Point Beach down Riverside Drive and Banwell and other streets to the site — all of these things have impacted residents.

“They haven’t always been pleasant, but it really is the price of progress, and I appreciate the residents who were affected working with us. They also live here and understand the importance of the investment.”

Article content

Most recently, in December, a 5,000-square-foot Banwell Road home on the only property expropriated to make way for the NextStar Energy Inc. giga factory was demolished.

On other parts of the massive factory site at Banwell and E. C. Row Avenue, the project has started moving vertically, with footings being installed and steel deliveries coming in.

To date, nearly 70 38-metre-long H-piles — structural beams driven into the soil for deep foundation — have been installed on-site.

Article content

The warehouse on Twin Oaks Drive where the battery plant was publicly announced in March was nominally leased to the joint venture for use as a construction office workspace and has since been renovated.

Factory construction will continue in the new year. The plant is expected to begin operations in 2024 and reach full operational capacity in 2025.

NextStar Energy is expected locally to directly employ an estimated 2,500 workers, manufacturing lithium-ion battery cells and modules aimed at the next generation of electric vehicles, including at Stellantis’s Windsor assembly plant.

tcampbell@postmedia.com

twitter.com/wstarcampbell