A Lithium Valley Stakeholders Meeting was held last week.

The meeting, hosted by the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation, brought together local government, education institutions, businesses and residents to discuss the news of the proposed $4 billion Gigafactory to be located in Imperial County. Last week Statevolt and Controlled Thermal Resources ( CTR ) announced an agreement for CTR to provided geothermal energy and locally mined lithium for a lithium battery factory to be developed by Statevolt. According to IVEDC President/CEO Timothy Kelley, key takeaways from the meeting include the economic boost the Imperial County economy will receive. The technology being used to develop the project is environmentally safe and doesn't enlarge the carbon footprint in the Valley. And according to IVEDC, the equity generated by the project will remain in the Imperial Valley instead of being shipped out to other areas and bypassing the Valley. 

The development of the Statevolt lithium battery factory could see as many as 2,500 jobs directly added in the Valley. The 3.2 million square foot factory could be online by 2025.