EVelution Energy breaks ground on solar-powered cobalt processing facility
Critical minerals firm EVelution Energy LLC has announced the start of construction on the solar facility that will power its planned cobalt processing facility in Yuma County, Arizona.
Representing a $450 million investment, the project will supply EVelution with 28 MW of solar power over 150 acres, company officials say. The eventual facility site will be the U.S.’s first commercial-scale cobalt metal and cobalt sulfate processing facility to be completely powered by renewable solar energy.
“Today’s groundbreaking marks another important milestone in our effort to rebuild America’s domestic critical minerals processing capability, and we’re proud to be taking that next step here in Yuma County,” says Navaid Alam, president and CEO of EVelution Energy. “The (steel) piles going into the ground mark the beginning of the renewable energy system that will power the first cobalt metal and cobalt sulfate processing facility in the United States.”
Excess energy will go into battery storage, and if that fills up, excess power will go to the local energy grid, the company says.
The eventual solar site will support thousands of panels working to power the facility, representatives say. Construction of the solar array is expected to continue throughout the rest of this year and into 2027, and the cobalt processing plant will come online by the end of 2029, according to company plans.
Building the U.S.’s mineral future
Once fully operational, the cobalt facility will be the first of its size in the U.S., solar powered or otherwise. The plant will process about 24,000 metric tons of cobalt hydroxide every year, which will be able to produce up to 3,000 metric tons of alloy-grade cobalt metal. Perhaps even more crucially, the plant’s products will produce up to 20,000 metric tons of cobalt sulfate, a crucial component for EV batteries.
“This output is expected to supply up to approximately 40% of projected U.S. cobalt demand,” the company says, “supporting American aerospace, defense, EV battery and advanced manufacturing industries.”
All of this is part of a wider strategy to bolster the U.S.’s domestic mineral supply chains, according to EVelution representatives. The company has also committed itself to using entirely domestic materials throughout construction and plant operation, including U.S.-made steel for solar and battery storage construction.
