FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 7, 2017) – Pikeville will get 875 jobs paying an average of $39 per hour when a planned $372 million advanced battery manufacturing facility opens in the next few years. Power solutions provider EnerBlu Inc. will first place it’s $40 million headquarters and research and development operations in Lexington, creating an additional 110 jobs paying an average of $52 per hour.

State officials approved economic development incentives for the project this morning in Frankfort, bringing the promise of significant well-paying jobs to a section of the state that needs it most.

UPDATED (Dec. 15, 2017): State, local officials celebrate tech battery maker’s $42 million investment in Pikeville and Lexington

To help attract EnerBlu to Eastern Kentucky, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority Board approved $30 million in tax breaks over the next 15 years if the company fulfills its plans to invest and create full-time, permanent jobs.

EnerBlu plans to manufacture high-performance batteries for buses and other large vehicles with production beginning in Lexington then ramping up in Pikeville when a new manufacturing facility can be built in the next two to three years, according to information presented at the KEDFA meeting.

It’s a big win for state officials and Eastern Kentucky, which has lost thousand of high-paying coal mining jobs in recent years. State, City of Pikeville and Commerce Lexington officials plan a joint announcement event at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 15 in Pikeville. An additional event is planned for the company in Lexington in early 2018.

EnerBlu also considered Nevada, Utah and Washington as potential locations for the project. Some of the headquarters and R&D jobs will transfer to Kentucky from California, China, Korea and Europe.

EnerBlu, Inc. is an American owned, advanced, high-power solution company currently based in Riverside, Ca., that is focused on energy storage for military and commercial vehicle applications.