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Site Selection: New Generation

  • October 17, 2018

What does it mean to grow the energy sector? Does it refer to helping tech startups and established energy solutions providers expand their businesses? Does it mean utilities finding new ways to increase electrical power supply, dependability and diversification? Developing leading-edge lithium-ion batteries? Are we talking renewables and sustainability? Or is it about helping companies save on their energy bills, one LED bulb at a time?

The answer is yes, according to a new article by the Site Selection team.

In Missouri, it’s about all those things. Battery firms are present throughout the state, including Johnson Controls’ expanding plant in the northwestern Missouri city of St. Joseph. But it’s southwest Missouri where the most pronounced cluster has formed.

Fall 2016 saw one of the state’s leaders in advanced battery development, EaglePicher, open a new 100,000-sq.-ft. Lithium Ion Center of Excellence in its hometown of Joplin in southwest Missouri. A year later, Montana-based ZAF Energy Systems announced the opening of its own new production facility in Joplin, where an initial $20-million investment will bring more than 100 jobs as ZAF seeds the market for nickel-zinc (NiZn) batteries as replacements for lead-acid batteries across such sectors as trucking, manufacturing, road construction and data centers.

“We just weren’t able to keep up with the demand with the capacity we had in Montana,” said ZAF President and CEO Randy Moore. “The new production facility in Joplin will drastically scale up production to several thousand batteries per month, enabling us to keep pace with growing demand while also refining manufacturing processes and accelerating development efforts.

Check out the full article from the Site Selection team here.

For more information on Missouri’s energy solutions and advanced manufacturing industries, check out our industry webpages, or contact Steve Johnson, CEO of Missouri Partnership, at 314.725.2688 or via our contact form. We’d be happy to answer any questions you might have, and show you how Missouri Partnership can help with your business expansion, collaboration and investment needs.

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