ST. THOMAS, ONT. — PowerCo Canada has just announced it has awarded two major contracts for the $7 billion St. Thomas gigafactory, with agreements in place for both structural steel and foundations for the project’s first cell production building and critical works.
While dollar amounts were not disclosed, Steelcon Group of Companies will carry out the structural steel work and Magil Construction Canada Inc. was contracted for the foundations.
This milestone sets the stage for groundbreaking at the site in the coming weeks, explains a release, marking another step for Canada’s largest-ever electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility. The factory alone will be the size of 210 football fields. The entire industrial park itself will span an area of 850 football fields.
The gigafactory will have six production blocks with a potential production volume of up to 90 gigawatt hours – enough for about one million EVs a year, the project website reads.
When it comes to the most recent contracts, Steelcon will have over 500 skilled workers directly onsite, including more than 30 from the surrounding London and southwestern Ontario region.
“We are proud to partner with PowerCo Canada to build the St. Thomas gigafactory, a project that embodies the future of Canadian industry,” said Danny Bianco, president at Steelcon Group of Companies, in a statement. “Our team of skilled Canadian fabricators is ready to deliver, and we are especially proud to contribute to a project that will support significant local employment and drive economic growth here in Ontario.”
According to PowerCo, the foundation work to be delivered by Magil Construction Canada Inc is one of the largest foundation packages to date in southwestern Ontario. It includes construction of foundations for three buildings, encompassing a total floor area of 850,000 square feet.
The first concrete pour is anticipated in the coming weeks. There will be 32,500 cubic metres of concrete involved in this stage of the project and 500,000-plus square feet of formwork.
This announcement follows the kickoff of PowerCo’s recruitment campaign to fill hundreds of jobs at the gigafactory this year. Once fully operational, the plant will support thousands of direct and indirect jobs in the region, the release adds.
PowerCo SE was founded by Volkswagen in 2022 to lead battery cell production on a global scale. PowerCo SE has made plans for three gigafactories – including the St. Thomas Gigafactory – with two of them now under construction.
