SK Battery

Project Description / Details

Plateau led site development in Phase I construction efforts for the new SK Innovation battery manufacturing plant in Commerce, Georgia. Located on 283 acres along I-85 about 65 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta inside the Commerce industrial complex, the 2.4 million-square-foot, $1.67 billion facility is SK Innovation’s first EV battery factory in the U.S.

Work began in spring 2019 with Phase 1 project completion scheduled for spring 2020. Plateau’s execution and service during the small enabling project at the beginning of this development opened up the remaining phases for the entire site.

Phase 2 began construction in 2020. Phase 2 consisted of a 1.2 million-square-foot facility located along Phase 1 of the project and included site and utility work, construction of medium voltage banks and cross-country piping racks. The site development included a unique utility system with different types of effluent produced by the plant, requiring three separate sewer systems. In addition, Plateau constructed an onsite substation directly for Georgia Power. Some of the project challenges included the close proximity of the jobsite to the active facility as well as an accelerated timeline with substantial completion scheduled for December 2021.

SK, which makes lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and fully electric automobiles, builds batteries for multiple vehicle manufacturers. SK Innovation will invest a total of $2.6B to complete construction of its first and second electric battery plants (Volkswagen and Ford ), creating ~2,600 jobs by the end of 2023.