(The Center Square) – Plans in Georgia for an electric vehicle plant in Social Circle are back on track, courtesy of a proposed $6 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The loan announced for Rivian on Tuesday includes an additional $600,000 in capitalized interest funded through the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Plans for the plant were put on hold in March amidst controversy about the $1.5 billion in incentives Georgia said it would give Rivian when it was announced in December 2021. The plant was expected to bring 7,500 jobs to the area and begin in 2024.
However, a judge denied the validation of $15 million in revenue bonds during a legal battle that included lawsuits from residents in the area of the proposed plant, according to previous reports. The Michigan-based Center for Economic Accountability called the project the “Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year” for 2022.
Rivian officials said in a release the new plant will still generate 7,500 jobs through 2030 to manufacture its all-electric mid-size vehicles. The company expects to produce 400,000 vehicles annually.
The first phase of the project would be completed in 2028, the company said.
“This is in addition to 2,000 expected full-time construction jobs that will utilize the region’s significant talent and workforce to further strengthen the domestic EV ecosystem,” company officials said in the release. “These jobs complement the thousands Rivian has already created and plans to maintain at its current plant in Normal, Illinois, which have bolstered the local and regional economy.”
The loan is contingent on Rivian meeting certain conditions. It reflects an increase in production of electric vehicles as part of the Biden administration’s goal that half of all new vehicles sold are electric by 2030, according to the Department of Energy’s news release.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., petitioned Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm for the loan in a letter sent in July.
“Our federal manufacturing incentives are driving economic development across the state of Georgia,” Ossoff said. “I join all federal, state, and local leaders in congratulating Rivian on this conditional federal loan agreement and in celebrating yet another historic federal investment in Georgia electric vehicle manufacturing.”
