With nearly $8 billion in capital investments announced in South Carolina in the past two years, energy-storage companies are betting big on the Palmetto State.

Aside from the sheer scale of investment, the variety of projects means the state probably has more components of the energy storage value chain than any other state, according to David Clayton, executive director of Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research.

Securing supply

Although the electric vehicle market tends to dominate discussions about energy storage, industrial applications are another area where demand is expected to grow significantly, Clayton said.

Regardless of the use, the common denominator in battery production is the raw materials such batteries require, especially rare elements like lithium and cobalt. This is one reason energy-storage companies are investing heavily in U.S. facilities.

In the case of lithium, reserves of the element in exploitable quantities are concentrated in a few countries like Chile, Australia and China, according to a market analysis by Lenore Elle Hawkins for Nasdaq published online last November.

According to her report, about 30% of lithium-ion battery production in 2023 came from one Chinese company, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd.

This helps explain the significance of battery recycling and lithium-recovery operations coming to South Carolina like Redwood Materials’ $3.5 billion facility planned in Berkeley County, Cirba Solutions’ $300 million recycling facility planned for Richland County and Albemarle Corp.’s $1.3 billion lithium recovery facility planned for Chester County.

Clayton said such operations will help strengthen the supply chain for domestic energy-storage production, especially as a number of major players in the industry are investing in our state.

Building batteries

One of the biggest recent developments in the Upstate is BMW Manufacturing’s investment of $1.7 billion to enable its Spartanburg County plant to produce six fully electric models by 2030.

The automaker is building a $700 million battery-assembly plant in Woodruff. The battery cells used in that plant will be produced in a factory under construction in Florence County by AESC, which is investing $1.6 billion in South Carolina operations.

For industrial applications, EnerSys announced in February it would invest $500 million in Greenville County to produce lithium-ion batteries.

Like many manufacturing facilities, battery-production plants require a lot of electric power. As more people and companies move to the state, electric utilities such as Duke Energy and Dominion Energy are scrambling to expand production capacity.

Perhaps paradoxically, energy-storage companies, which themselves are among the biggest power consumers, are likely to be part of the power-supply solution, Clayton said.

He said because of the Southeast’s sunny climate, solar energy is likely to play an increasing role in meeting energy demand. Energy storage is essential to make that supply more reliable.

“It’s a billion-dollar, if not trillion-dollar opportunity,” he said. “As far as that battery value chain, that entire life cycle — South Carolina probably has more pieces of that than anyone, than any other state.”

South Carolina’s $7.9B energy-storage investment snapshot

AESC — $1.62 billion in Florence County to manufacture battery cells; expected to be complete in 2026 and create more than 1,600 jobs
BMW Manufacturing — $700 million in Spartanburg County (Woodruff) to assemble battery cells; expected to be complete in 2026 and create 500 jobs
Redwood Materials — $3.5 billion in Berkeley County to recycle batteries and manufacture anode and cathode material for batteries; expected to be complete in 2025 and create 1,500 jobs
Albemarle Corp. — $1.3 billion in Chester County to recover lithium and create 300 jobs; construction expected to begin in late 2024
Cirba Solutions — $300 million in Richland County to recycle lithium-ion batteries; expected to be complete in late 2024 and create 300 jobs
EnerSys — $500 million in Greenville County to manufacture lithium-ion cells for industrial applications; expected to be complete in 2027 and create 300 jobs

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