Poland offers Westborough battery recycling firm $320M to construct plant

Two men in suit shake hands in front of the flag of Poland and the European Union

Photo | Courtesy of Ascend Elements (Left) Linh Austin, president and CEO at Ascend Elements, meets with Michal Jaros, secretary of state in Poland’s Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, in Warsaw, Poland.

Write a Comment

By Eric Casey

The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology in Poland is offering Westborough-based battery materials recycling firm Ascend Elements $320 million to construct a manufacturing plant in the country.

The offer is meant to entice the firm to move forward with the construction of a manufacturing facility focused on cathode active materials, which are used to produce new batteries for electric vehicles and other industrial applications from elements of recycled batteries.

The subsidies are one of the largest ever offered by the country, according to an Ascend Elements press release released Wednesday.

“This offer of support from the Polish government marks a significant step forward in Ascend Elements’ European growth strategy,” Linh Austin, president and CEO at Ascend Elements who took over the role in March, said in the press release. “We are committed to building a sustainable battery materials supply chain on both sides of the Atlantic, and we greatly appreciate the Ministry’s offer of significant financial support.”

The offering of the subsidy comes as Ascend formed a joint venture with Polish firm Elemental Strategic Metals to open one plant in Germany and one in Poland. The subsidy offered Wednesday would fund the construction of a different facility, which Ascend has already identified a potential location in Poland for.

Founded by Yan Wang, Diran Apelian, and Eric Gratz in 2015 following research and development which happened at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Ascend now operates a facility in Covington, Georgia, of the largest battery recycling facilities in North America.

Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.