Canada in line for first Indigenous people-led battery gigafactory

The Malahat Nation, from Canada’s British Columbia province, is building a factory that will assemble Taiwanese battery cells into 1 GWh per year of battery packs for use in homes and businesses.
The gigafactory will be developed in Mill Bay, Vancouver Island. | Imagery ©2024 Terrametrics, Map data ©2024/Google Maps.

Construction has begun on a 1 GWh battery pack assembly plant which is being developed by “Canada’s first Indigenous group to lead a gigafactory.”

Salish Indigenous people The Malahat Nation is working with British Columbia-based Energy Plug Technologies Corp. to construct a CAD 75 million ($55 million) battery energy storage production plant at Mill Bay, on Vancouver Island.

The site is expected to be operational in Q4, 2025 and will produce 5 kW lithium iron phosphate battery packs for residential, commercial, utility, and data centre markets across North America. 

Announcing the project, Energy Plug stated the 56,000 ft2 site will be operated by the Malahat Battery Technologies Ltd. Partnership, which will be 51% owned by the Malahat Nation and 49% by Energy Plug.

The project will be funded by the two partners plus unnamed private investors and the First Nations Finance Authority, a nonprofit governed by First Nation communities which offers access to long-term loans at preferable interest rates.

Energy Plug said the project will be supported by Siemens Canada, Johnson Controls Canada, Wales McLelland Construction, and Taiwan’s Enwind Power Co. Ltd.

“We are honored to be working with the Malahat Nation, who have helped make history by being Canada’s first Indigenous group to lead a gigafactory,” said Energy Plug CEO Broderick Gunning.

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