Dive Brief:
- The battery storage and electric vehicle sectors led clean energy manufacturing investments in February, according to a rundown of last month’s project announcements from environmental and economic advocacy group E2.
- Twelve new, large-scale manufacturing production and research and development projects were announced. The projects are expected to create at least 4,400 new jobs across 11 states.
- The top two manufacturing investments were Toyota’s plan to add $1.3 billion worth of electric vehicle battery lines at its Kentucky plant and Corning's $900 million solar parts manufacturing plant in Michigan.
Dive Insight:
February’s total major clean energy manufacturing investments were down nearly 22% year over year, but up 68.3% from January 2024. Job creation last month was down by nearly half compared to February 2023, when project announcements led to the creation of 8,199 jobs, compared to 4,434 jobs this year.
EV and battery projects dominated the clean energy sector again this month, making up 8 of the 14 total clean energy announcements. The investments come despite the downturn in consumer and automaker interest that has dragged the sector in recent months.
“When you read the media coverage in the EV space, a lot of it has heated up a bit with some negative headlines,” said Anthony Johnson, president of the industrial business unit at Clayco, a Chicago-based construction firm. “But when you zoom out and look at that overall growth curve, I see things continuing to increase over time in a strong way.”
Other notable clean energy manufacturing investments included Siemens Energy’s North Carolina power transformer facility, EnerSys’ $500 million lithium-ion battery factory in South Carolina and Schaeffler’s $230 million Ohio auto manufacturing plant.
Clean vehicles manufacturing grew year over year in February
In solar component manufacturing, major projects included Corning’s solar facility and Solarcycle’s $344 million recycled solar glass plant in Georgia.
Finally, Shoals Technologies will invest $80 million and create 550 jobs over the next five years to expand its manufacturing and distribution operations to a larger location in Portland, Tennessee.
Since the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, at least 292 major clean energy projects have been announced in 41 states and Puerto Rico, according to the E2 monthly tally. In those announcements, companies have also announced at least 102,000 new jobs and nearly $118 billion in investments for the projects.
As for where these investments were coming from, Michigan led with three announcements, followed by North Carolina with two.
