Forrest to spend $54m on new ‘green’ factory in Michigan
afr.comMining and clean-energy billionaire Andrew Forrest has pledged to plough $US35 million ($54 million) into a new battery manufacturing plant in the United States, as Fortescue Metals aims to cash in on the benefits of President Joe Biden’s $US369 billion ($550 billion) Inflation Reduction Act.
It comes after Dr Forrest unveiled plans on Thursday toestablish Fortescue Capital, an asset management business in New York designed to bankroll green projects worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Fortescue Energy chief Mark Hutchinson (left) has hired private equity dealmaker Robert Tichio to spearhead the company’s new US-based asset management arm.
Announcing the funds for the Michigan battery plant on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, the Fortescue Metals executive chairman said the project was one of three green facilities planned in the US, spurred by incentives under the IRA.
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.
“The IRA makes the United States the most attractive place in the world for green energy and green manufacturing projects,” Dr Forrest said. “Fortescue is putting the United States at the forefront of our global strategy, with the incentives on offer, a win for both the US and the wider Asia-Pacific region.”
Fortescue said the factory in Michigan would produce automotive and heavy industry batteries, hydrogen generators, fast chargers and electrolysers, which would generate green hydrogen fuel to replace diesel.
“Michigan and the United States are extremely attractive places to manufacture, given the skilled workforce, existing supply chain
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