Billed as the largest development in Kansas history, Panasonic’s $4 billion battery factory is moving toward completion before the end of the year.
On Friday, a large contingent of elected leaders, including Gov. Laura Kelly, were inside part of a massive building south of Kansas Highway 10 in De Soto, Kansas. capacitors deutsch
“We set up an incentive program that we call Apex, and it was designed specifically to attract companies that would invest $1 billion or more,” Kelly said.
The incentives and infrastructure investments total more than $1 billion from state and local governments.
They include $829 million in tax incentives from Kansas, $200 million in property tax incentives from De Soto and $15 million from Johnson County for new infrastructure.
The Kansas Department of Transportation also made $26 million in road improvements.
“I want to stress that none of these incentives go out until they actually produce," Kelly said. "And so, we look at the incentives as really an investment that we expect a large return on investment. When this company is up and running, it's $500 million of labor income that will be generated here. We expect about a ($2 billion or) $2.5 billion every year return on this investment."
As KMBC first reported in 2022, the De Soto location is the former site for the World War II era Sunflower Ammunition Plant.
Closed for decades, the Environmental Protection Agency designated the location as a Superfund Site due to PCB contamination. PCBs are linked to cancer.
“We don't fool around with that kind of stuff. We had our Kansas Department of Health and Environment at the table from the very, very get-go. And they worked very quickly, but not lowering the standards at all to ensure that this site is safe. So, there was a lot of remediation,” Kelly said.
The project has wide support across party lines.
Project manager Allan Swan said it was a factor in Panasonic’s decision to choose the De Soto location over 82 other competing sites across the country.
“There's a bipartisan teamwork here in Kansas. And quite frankly, it was the people here in the Kansas area and Midwest because you're all amazing,” he said.
Swan said the first battery is scheduled to roll off the assembly line sometime in late spring.
When running at full capacity, the plant is expected to employ 4,000 people.
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