Forrest poised to open battery making hub – but in the US
Berlin | Mining and clean-energy billionaire Andrew Forrest is poised to set up a new battery manufacturing hub in the US, as Fortescue Future Industries tries to reap the benefits of President Joe Biden’s $US369 billion ($550 billion) Inflation Reduction Act.
Dr Forrest plans an imminent expansion for UK-based engineering firm WAE, the British Formula 1 car designer he acquired last year, which hasalready mushroomed into a three-site operation in its home base in Oxfordshire.
Andrew Forrest at the WAE headquarters in Oxfordshire last month. Domenico Pugliese
He recently suggested that WAE, which is making batteries, electric vehicles and trains for Fortescue, would set up in the US. But this is now understood to be close at hand, with an American location almost in the bag.
“This is very real. We’re mobilising capital, equipment and expertise,” Dr Forrest told The Australian Financial Review during a visit to London on Monday (Tuesday AEST).
“In the United Kingdom, we have a record of expanding WAE very significantly since we purchased it. But we will put even greater capital into the United States, where the incentives just make it inordinately difficult not to invest there.”
Mr Biden’s IRA, which passed Congress last year, offers subsidies, grants and tax breaks to set up businesses in the US related to the clean-energy transition. Dr Forrest has taken the bait.
“It’s absolutely IRA-driven. If you have external shareholders that you’re responsible to, you have to develop manufacturing capability around the world, but particularly in the United States because the incentives are so significant.”
Fortescue bought the company then known as Williams Advanced Engineering in March last year. He recently installed one of his
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