Storage

Export-Import Bank’s fourth ‘Make More in America’ deal to finance long-duration battery storage production

Export-Import Bank’s fourth ‘Make More in America’ deal to finance long-duration battery storage production
December 15, 2022 - Electrical engineering researcher Kurtis Buck opens the doors of the KORE POWER battery units outside the Energy Systems Integration Facility at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). (Photo by Werner Slocum / NREL)

The bipartisan board of directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) unanimously approved a $50 million financing package to small business ESS Inc. under the Make More in America (MMIA) Initiative to finance the construction of several new long-duration battery storage production lines at ESS Tech’s Wilsonville, Oregon facility.

This is the fourth deal approved under EXIM’s MMIA initiative and will support approximately 100 full-time jobs in Oregon. The $50 million financing package consists of a final commitment to finance two production lines in the immediate near term, plus a preliminary commitment to finance several additional production lines as ESS scales up its production capacity to meet customer demand.

“We are proud to approve EXIM’s fourth Make More in America transaction to small business and energy storage manufacturer ESS,” said Reta Jo Lewis, President and Chair of the Board of Directors, EXIM. “This transaction will ensure that EXIM continues to meet our mandates to support technologies that are critical to the global energy transition while bolstering supply chains and supporting good-paying jobs at home.”

EXIM said the funding will enable the tripling of the annual production capacity at ESS Tech’s Wilsonville facility that will be used to increase exports to Europe, Australia, and Africa.

The initiative makes EXIM’s existing medium- and long-term loans and loan guarantees available for export-oriented domestic manufacturing projects as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s whole-of-government efforts to strengthen the resiliency and security of America’s supply chains, following the enactment of Executive Order 14017.

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