SK Innovation has recently announced it will finance 1.09 trillion KRW (about 986 million USD) to the battery manufacturing plants in Georgia through green bonds. The bonds will be issued by SK battery America, a global subsidiary SK Innovation, to fund the construction of the second plant in Georgia.

Last year, SK battery America was also injected with 220 million USD of green loan. Through syndicated green loan, the company secured 450 million USD in June, making the total investment by green financing reach 670 million USD. This is the largest amount of investment through green loan ever in Georgia.

In March 2019, SK Innovation broke ground on the first EV battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. in Commerce City, Jackson County, Georgia with a 1.67 billion USD investment. In line with the increasing demand of EV batteries, SK Innovation started building a second facility at Commerce this July with additional investment of 940 million USD. The two plants in Georgia are expected to have total annual capacity of 21.5GWh, which is enough to power about 310,000 EVs (assume that the battery capacity of each EV is 70kWh).

SK Innovation also confirmed that its first plant in Georgia is ready for the pilot production, which is scheduled to start in the first half of 2021. A representative of SK Innovation said, “Our first EV battery plant in Georgia is 90% completed.” “We are expecting to receive battery materials in the first half of 2021 and start conducting necessary tests for actual production,” he added.

On the other hand, the company has been accelerating hiring at Georgia with the plan of creating more than 2,600 jobs in the Jackson County area by 2024. SK battery America has signed a partnership agreement with Quick Start and Lanier Technical College in Georgia to provide training programs for workers. Last month, the company has used various online and offline channels, including a Drive-thru Job Fair in the area around Jackson County to promote its recruitment while taking into account the safety conditions required during COVID-19.

In early December, SK battery America also made a 30,000 USD donation to the Commerce Public Library. President of SK battery America Hwang Jun-ho represented the company to deliver the donation to officials of Commerce City, showing the company’s continuous effort to support the local community in various ways.

 ▲ President of SK battery America Hwang Jun-ho (second from right) delivered the donation to the Commerce Public library