Australia-based NOVONIX Limited announced that its NOVONIX Anode Materials division finalized a US$100-million award from the US Department of Energy (DOE) (earlier post) to expand domestic production of high-performance, synthetic graphite anode materials at its Riverside facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

On 20 October 2022, NOVONIX announced its selection to enter negotiations for US$150 million in grant funding to support the construction of a new synthetic graphite manufacturing facility with a targeted initial output of 30,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).

Through negotiations with the DOE, the company successfully reallocated the funding more immediately to its Riverside facility which has a target production of up to 20,000 tpa and, accordingly, resized the award to US$100 million.

The DOE grant funding will support the installation and commissioning of equipment to produce the targeted 20,000 tpa of capacity from Riverside. Under the terms of the grant, government funds must be matched by the recipient. In addition to the US$100 million DOE grant funding, the company expects its cash position, customer revenues, additional government programs, strategic partners and other capital sources to fund planned growth.

This grant funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is aimed to support establishing a North American battery supply chain amidst surging demand and growing calls to onshore these critical industries. Synthetic graphite is currently imported almost exclusively from China.

NOVONIX’s Riverside facility is due to begin production in late 2024 to support the company’s supply agreement with KORE Power, and the company will provide a progress update in the first quarter of 2024. The company continues to engage with other prospective customers about product qualification, production timelines, and potential supply agreements that could be supported from Riverside or future production facilities.

NOVONIX also continues to advance plans for a new production facility with an initial production target of at least 30,000 tpa. The engineering and design of this facility will leverage the updated engineering specific to Riverside to be completed in the first quarter of next year.

The company’s application for funding support under the DOE Loan Programs Office’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Program has been invited to Due Diligence (“Phase 3”). A loan through the ATVM program may provide leverage up to 80% of eligible project costs of the company’s next facility. The timing of this next facility and NOVONIX’s subsequent plans to reach 150,000 tpa of production in North America will be based on the timelines of potential customer demand.