Sparkz, a company planning to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles, is in discussions about opening a battery plant at the former corporate headquarters of rocket manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne in Rancho Cordova.
Sparkz officials did not respond to email and phone requests for comment.
But the California Energy Commission is examining whether the company can transfer two grants it gave Sparkz, one for $2.6 million in 2021 and another for $12.6 million in 2022, to manufacture the batteries at the Aerojet Rocketdyne site, commission Communications Director Lindsay Buckley said.
The grants were specifically for a manufacturing plant at the Sparkz corporate headquarters in Livermore, she said.
That has all changed.
“We are aware of the Rancho location and aware that’s where they want to site the location,” said Buckley of the company’s change in plans.
Energy staff are in negotiation with the company on moving the grants for Sparkz to use at Rancho Cordova, Buckley said. The grants are on hold because of the potential change in location.
Buckley said the grants are given competitively, taking into consideration factors such as the number of jobs created in a community.
Given those factors, she said a change in location means a new review.
Buckley could not provide the details as to when the review would be complete.
Separately, Sacramento County planning officials have said that they have no objections to the location of the battery manufacturing plant at the Aerojet Rocketdyne site.
Rocket maker Aerojet Rocketdyne moved its corporate headquarters to Southern California in 2016.
Sacramento County spokesman Kenneth Casparis said Sparkz officials met with county planning officials in June to determine if their plans to locate a battery manufacturing plant met area zoning requirements.
The answer was yes.
County Planning Director Todd Smith in a June 22 letter to Sparkz Chief of Staff Abby Smith said that a lithium manufacturing plant is permitted and is not subject to an environmental review.
The letter, released by Casparis to the Bee, details that Sparkz wants to build an approximately 850,000-square-foot plant and plans to employ 850 to 1,000 persons.
The letter does not detail a timeline for the Sparkz plan.
On Nov. 9, the Sacramento Business Journal quoted Sparkz CEO Sanjiv Malhotra as saying that Sparkz hopes to sign a lease with an option to purchase the old corporate headquarters of Aerojet Rocketdyne in the coming weeks.
He said Sparkz plans to spend $1 billion to convert the site to a battery plant.
It’s unclear if Sparkz has signed up any vehicle manufacturers for the batteries it plans to manufacture.
Aerojet Rocketdyne had employed around 1,600 employees when it announced it was leaving Rancho Cordova.
At its peak in the 1950s, the company had more than 30,000 employees in Rancho Cordova.
©2023 The Sacramento Bee. Visit sacbee.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
