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It’s official: What will soon be Colorado’s largest battery manufacturing plant is coming to Brighton.

Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announced Monday that Amprius Technologies Inc. has signed a letter of intent for a 775,000-square-foot facility on East Bromley Lane for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries.

The Denver Post reported last week that the city of Brighton approved a package of economic incentives to encourage the Fremont, Calif., company to open up shop in Colorado. The Colorado Economic Development Commission in February approved $5.49 million in state job growth incentive tax credits for the project, then referred to as “Project Maverick.”

Amprius Technologies has developed its lithium-ion battery technology for over a decade and the large facility in Brighton the company will move into will allow it to scale up manufacturing of its breakthrough product, said CEO Kang Sun.

Sun told the Post Friday that Amprius was in the final stages of leasing a 1.3 million-square-foot industrial facility in Brighton and near Interstate 76. He said the company has a team on the ground in Colorado.

The first phase of operations, which will cover about 775,000 square feet of the site, is expected to start by 2025. Construction retrofitting what was a distribution facility for Sears and Kmart will take about 18 months.

The plant will employ about 330 people in its first phases, Sun said. The operation might eventually expand to the entire facility.

“We are looking forward to putting our first large-scale manufacturing plant in Colorado,” Sun said. “This is a major milestone for this company, not only for this company but for the lithium-ion battery industry.”

Amprius, founded in 2008, is one of the first companies to receive grants from the Department of Energy as part of the federal infrastructure law intended to expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and other uses. The $50 million grant will be part of the $190 million investment in the plant.

The DOE said the grant is for the first-of-its-kind, large-scale production lines for the company’s high-energy battery technology. The company has run a small production plant in California since 2018.

The company is forming two business units. Amprius Fab, to be located in Brighton, will focus on large-scale manufacturing of silicon anode batteries. Amprius Lab in Fremont will focus on advanced battery technology, product, and manufacturing process development.

The plant is expected initially to produce up to 5 gigawatt hours, which would be the potential energy generated by all the cells manufactured. For context, 1 gigawatt could power 3.125 million photovoltaic panels or 9,090 Nissan Leafs, according to DOE.

Amprius produces a silicon anode platform to use in battery cells. Silicon can store up 10 times more lithium than graphite, which has been traditionally used. As a result, the batteries deliver up to 100% higher energy density than standard lithium-ion batteries, according to the company.

Amprius uses silicon nanowires to address the potential problem of the silicon swelling and cracking when charged with lithium.

The battery cells are lighter, smaller in volume and can generate a lot of power for the takeoff and landing of electric planes, Sun said. “We can charge our battery from zero to 80% in less than six minutes.”

The company’s technology has been used in military drones and high-altitude pseudo satellites, uncrewed air vehicles. Last year, Amprius announced a three-year cooperation agreement with BAE Systems, an international defense and aerospace company.

“We need more batteries to power the future and now we will be manufacturing more of them right here in Colorado,” Polis said in a statement.

Colorado’s clean-tech industry contributed $4.6 billion to the economy annually and employs more than 62,000 people, said Eve Lieberman, executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

The plant will be more than 10 times the size of Colorado’s next biggest battery plant in the state — Louisville-based Solid Power’s 75,000-square-foot facility in Thornton.

The average annual wage of the jobs will be $68,516, which is 104 percent of the average annual wage in Adams County. These will include management, engineering, business support personnel, technicians, operators, and maintenance positions.

Texas and Georgia were the other contenders for the battery plant. One of the reasons Amprius selected Colorado was because of the availability of silane gas in the area. Sun said Montana is the largest producer of the gas, used to produce silicon components.

The large industrial site in Brighton and the city’s location near Denver International Airport and the city of Denver were also attractive to Amprius.

“We also believe Colorado has a very good education system,” Sun said.

The University of Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines and other area schools will be good resources for the company’s engineering team, he said. Sun, who previously led ventures in solar energy, has worked with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden in the past.

“In the future, I assume our executives and lead engineers would like to locate in the Denver area.”

Amprius Technologies is responding to concerns about a 775,000 square foot building in Colorado it plans to use for lithium ion battery manufacturing. The facility in Brighton will initially create over 300 jobs, but neighbors who live close by worry about the fact that the batteries -- which are used in everything from cellphones to electric vehicles to defense systems -- are highly flammable and involve use of hazardous chemicals.

State leaders like Gov. Jared Polis have spoken positively about the California-based company's plan, saying it boosts Colorado's clean energy economy.

Jessie and Joe Williams live very close to the planned factory and have been spreading the word about safety concerns they have for months. They continue to attain signatures for a petition against Amprius's plan.

"This is like a fourth job, but you know when it's something so important as your life, your home, your family, the safety of your community, you don't have a choice. You have to it," Jessie Williams said.

Amprius chose Colorado due to the STEM school system that's present, the weather and the proximity to their suppliers. Kang Sun, Amprius' President and Chief Executive Officer, spoke this month about the economic benefits of their plan.

"Our factory ultimately will have 1,000 employees, so this is going to be a business ecosystem," he said.

Andrew Huie is the Vice President of Infrastructure at Amprius and said "This is a new generational technology that is for clean energy."

Joe Williams wants people to know the group of neighbors he represents aren't against "growth and development and moving forward in technology."

"We're against doing it so close to our homes to where it could have such an impact that it could be dangerous for hundreds of families," he said.

Sun wants to allay those fears.

"Battery manufacturing at Amprius is very safe process," he said.

He says the fires that have been associated with the batteries usually happen due to improper use.

"When we hear about a battery accident -- battery explodes, battery (catches) fire -- most time not in the factory, it's at your home, it's on the road. How to use the battery is very important," said Sun.

Huie recognizes "we utilize hazardous production materials -- electrolyte blends, NMP which is N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone, silane gas and fugitive dust." The company says they use a "solvent recovery system" to capture chemical vapors and recycle or safely dispose of hazardous waste.

"We will have some emissions but those emissions -- we're a highly regulated industry -- and so we will be following all U.S. EPA requirements," Huie said.

Amprius still needs to apply for an EPA certificate. Their California operation is small enough one is not required. Once they do they will be responsible for monitoring and reporting their emissions.

"With permits and licensing being put into place that still doesn't mean that were not going to have the pollution, we're not going to have the hazardous waste on site," Jessie Williams said.

Brighton City Council must approve rezoning of the land before Amprius can move in, and that will require a public hearing. That's when the Williams are hoping to present the nearly 500 signatures they are still collecting.

"Anywhere that we can go where people are willing to hear and listen, that's the plan," Joe Williams said.

Amprius held open houses on two different days earlier this month to answer neighbors' questions.

"We acknowledge the neighbors' concerns and we want to assure them that we're here to listen to their concerns and try to address their concerns and look forward to working with them," Huie said.

If Brighton approved the rezoning, Amprius will begin hiring and set-up next year and start operating in 2025.

UPDATE: Brighton residents push back against re-zoning land poised for lithium battery plant

CBSColorado.com Staff

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Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined Governor Jared Polis and top White House climate officials on Tuesday in Brighton for a major announcement.

The world's top climate scientists warn we are not moving fast enough to rein in greenhouse gases. The only way to stop temperatures from rising above the point of no return is to remove carbon already in the atmosphere. Global Thermostat has developed among the most advanced technology for doing just that.

"There's no reason Global Thermostat can't be, won't be that next generation industrial revolution," says Paul Nahi, CEO of Global Thermostat.

The revolution is already underway at a warehouse in Brighton, where the company is operating one of the most energy-efficient, cost-effective direct air capture systems in the world.

Speaker Emeritus Pelosi said, "When humanity wins the fight over the climate crisis, today will be an important day, landmark in that action."

High efficiency industrial fans draw air through series of honeycomb-like filters coated with a chemical mixture that binds to carbon dioxide. The filters are then injected with steam that pulls out the carbon and releases carbon free air back into the atmosphere.

"The amount of energy is de minimis," says Nahi. "This design does something in such a way that air flows very smoothly through it."

As for the carbon that's captured, Nahi says, there are companies using it for fuel, fertilizer, and even carbonating beverages. Other companies are interested in it as a way of reaching net zero emissions.

"We are in discussions with multiple customers and interestingly customers all over the world," says Nahi. "Direct air capture represents a massive potential industry, an industry on the scale of what oil and gas is today."

Ironically, Global Thermostat will need oil and gas wells to sequester carbon that's not used, as well as oil and gas chemists and engineers to grow the company, making Colorado a perfect location for its global headquarters says Nahi, "There are very few states, very few areas, with that level of talent available within a couple zip codes."

Nahi admits the task ahead is daunting. Scientists estimate we need to remove 10 gigatons of carbon per year by 2050 and 20 gigatons a year by the end of the century to lower the global temperature.

Global Thermostat may be our best hope for reversing climate change, "We are already in discussions with multiple partners about moving from kiloton to hundreds of kilotons in the next couple years and then shortly thereafter move to the megaton scale," says Nahi. "We can avoid this. There is still time. But we have act now."

Not everyone can say they're helping save the planet. Nahi says there's nothing he'd rather be doing, "There's so much bad news about the climate - and it's real and it's bad - but knowing there's a path is very heartening... and it starts in Colorado."

Governor Polis said, "To see these planet-saving technologies move from concept to actual existence is just exciting. It gives me optimism for the planet."

While Global Thermostat's direct air capture technology is essential to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, scientists say it can't do it alone. In addition to pulling carbon out of the atmosphere, they say, we must continue to prevent it from getting there in the first place.

Shaun Boyd

Shaun Boyd is the Political Specialist at CBS News Colorado. Read her latest reports or check out her bio and send her an email.

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If you’re a fan of the Detroit-style pizza trend that has spread across the country, there’s a new spot coming to Boston.

Detroit Pizza Co. will open in Brighton’s Oak Square neighborhood in early August. The restaurant will be takeout and delivery only, and it will introduce diners to a kind of pizza that has gained popularity nationally, while still growing its presence in Boston. Owner Anastasios Anastasiadis said that he has worked in pizzerias for much of his life and is looking forward to opening Bostonians’ eyes to this specialty.

“I grew up in the pizza business,” Anastasiadis said. “I’ve been doing this for a little over 20 years now. I’ve done everything from the Greek-style pan pizza to hand stretched New York-style pizza. I got introduced to Detroit-style pizza, and it’s just something that there isn’t too much of in this area.”

Detroit-style pizza is a deep dish, rectangular pizza that is cooked in a blue steel pan. The Wisconsin brick cheese is spread to the edges, so that it cooks with caramelization and crisp. The dough, Anastasiadis said, is fluffy, similar to a focaccia. At Detroit Pizza Co., the cheese will be laid down first, then the toppings and sauce, with some exceptions.

The menu at Detroit Pizza Co. will showcase some specialties. These include the Motor City Roni, which features cup and char pepperoni and shaved fontina. The OG Buffalo is made with fresh, buffalo chicken and a drizzle of either ranch or bleu cheese dressing. Patrons can also build their own pizzas, choosing from toppings such as sausage, thick cut smoked bacon, peppers, onions, mushrooms, or Mike’s Hot Honey. For those wanting something besides pizza, they can enjoy salads, chicken wings and tenders, and soft drinks.

Boston.com readers know their pizza — in a recent guide to pizza in Greater Boston, they recommended over 100 restaurants, naming Regina Pizzeria as their most popular pick. New pizza places will be coming to the area, with the Sally’s Apizza chain bringing New Haven-style pizza to Woburn Village and the Seaport, later this year and with an anticipated 2024 opening, respectively.

Anastasiadis said he is hoping to expose the Brighton neighborhood to Detroit-style pizza that is often overlooked in Boston.

“This pizza is for everyone to try,” he said. “We have a lot of students in the area, a lot of young professionals, a lot of people who just work in the area. I’d like for everyone to just come try this pizza.”

Detroit Pizza Co., 600 A Washington St., Brighton

Your tiny house fantasies and van life blueprints have the chance to come to life at this year’s Colorado Tiny House Festival in Brighton this weekend.

This year’s festival will be the sixth annual event and will bring in various builders, seasoned tiny house-livers and those interested in the lifestyle.

“One of the things we’ve seen is an uptick in the request for more affordable housing,” said Art Laubach, one of the event coordinators.

“Some people’s property taxes nearly doubled last year because of their property value going up, so it has become much less attainable for certain people — like younger people who just may be entering the workforce — to become homeowners.”

The trend of tiny houses and van life has grown in visibility in recent years due to social media platforms where people can share their tips and tricks for the lifestyle. But the clientele of the Colorado Tiny House Festival isn’t just young people.

“The other half of the people who come would probably be folks who are coming into retirement,” Laubach said.

“We see a lot of old people wanting to have less home space to take care of or maybe want to live on their family’s farmland when they retire, so they’ll build a tiny house.”

Some attendees even visit to learn more about the industry and how to potentially start an Airbnb business with a tiny house. To aid with the different demographics and interests, the Tiny House Festival will host speaking sessions on Saturday and Sunday to inform others of the lifestyle.

“Those speakers usually have a role in the industry or an important message in the tiny house world,” Laubach said.

“We’ve got a couple of folks that make their money from YouTube and talk about how they gained freedom through this lifestyle. We’ll also have speakers who will discuss things like building trends and manufacturing.”

In between house visits, attendees will be surrounded by various food and drink vendors as well as companies specializing in equipment such as solar panels, hot tubs and specialized cell service packages.

“We’ll have something for everybody,” Laubach said.