Hardin County Judge/Executive Harry Berry said there’s one thing on everyone’s mind right now in his home county, and it’s the major announcement that Ford Motor Company is going to build twin battery manufacturing plants there.
The venture, BlueOvalSK Battery Park, is projected at $5.8 billion, and it will create 5,000 full-time jobs in addition to the construction work. The plants will be housed in the southern part of the county in Glendale, located between both I-65 and the Western Kentucky Parkway.
“Everyone is really excited about it,” Berry said. “You can’t come across anybody today here where this isn’t at the top of the list of things they want to talk about. And this will extend beyond our community and central Kentucky out into the state. Everyone will benefit. We’re anxious to start.”
Production for future lines of electric vehicles is expected to start in 2025 for the first of the two battery plants with the second opening the following year. Ford expects at least 40 percent of its global sales to be electric by 2030.
Gov. Andy Beshear has said incentives approved by the legislature recently will support Ford’s investment. These include a $250 million performance-based forgivable loan, conveyance of the 1,500-acre site and up to $36 million for workforce training initiatives.
“Ford has been real helpful in communicating what their needs were,” Berry said.
They’re personable. They’ve been great to work with. The state has been fabulous to work with. The governor has made numerous trips down here and been a part of those discussions. Secretary (Larry) Hayes with the Economic Development Cabinet, we can’t say enough about the both of them.”
Tuesday’s announcement is the culmination of decades of preparation, Berry said.
“This has been a project that started 20 years ago in the Patton administration,” he said. “They acquired this land all together with the county’s help then. The land is in the Hardin County fiscal court’s name. In those 20 years, we’ve had a lot of suitors if you will, but projects either went somewhere else or never came to fruition anywhere.
“I made the analogy to somebody else, but we’ve been fishing in this pond for some time now, and not only have we caught one, we caught a whale,” Berry added. “Apparently, it’s the big blue whale.”
During that time, Berry said, many stakeholders have worked together to keep the property viable.
“The preparations that we’ve made over the years, we’ve worked with our water district to get water out at the site, sewer at the site,” Berry said. “Of course, there’s an abundance of electricity going to the site. CSX Railroad goes right through it. We’ve had environmental studies completed over the years and updated. There’s no concerns with the site.
“Everybody is anxious for this to come to fruition,” Berry added. “The job opportunities, the growth it will bring to our community; We couldn’t ask for better timing.”
