A ribbon-cutting is taking place today for the official grand opening of the NextStar Energy battery manufacturing plant in Windsor.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, Vic Fedeli, and federal Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly will be at the plant for the ceremony.
NexStar began commercial cell production in November 2025 and has been scaling growth since at the 4.23 million-square-foot facility located just off the E.C. Row Expressway and Banwell Road.
The facility currently employs over 1,300 people, with a long-term target of 2,500 employees as it scales to full production at the $5 billion plant.
Facility and Utilities Manager at Nextstar Energy, Brent Pye, told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that they use enough electricity to power the equivalent of 5,200 homes.
Facility and Utilities Manager at Nextstar Energy, Brent Pye, told AM800's Mornings with Mike and Meg that managing the cleanliness and air particulate in the plant is very important for battery manufacturing.
"There cannot be any dust in here. We're measuring for particulate that you can't even see with the human eye. The filtration system, the HVAC system, the humidity control. Currently in an office environment you would experience 40 to 60 per cent relative humidity. We have to control these massive spaces with as low as one per cent, 10 per cent."
Pye says that they are connected directly to the Hydro One transmission line because of the amount of power they need.
"It's a massive amount of power that we will require at our peak performance. To compare that with residential homes, we could power 52-hundred homes, a small community, a small town with the amount of power that we will require."
Chief Operating Officer of Nextstar Energy, Brett Hillock, says that they're looking for all kinds of skill sets to work in this environment, those who can be precise and follow standardized work to a 'T'.
"St. Clair College, the University of Windsor with fantastic programs with the pharmacy tech program that we have been trying to recruit from out of St. Clair College. Some people have come from other pharmacies to join us with our lab technicians right out of St. Clair College."
NextStar Energy was established as a joint venture by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution in 2022 to build Canada's first large-scale electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility.
On February 6, Stellantis announced it was selling its 49 per cent equity stake in the plant to LG Energy Solution.
In November 2025, NextStar Energy announced it was moving to produce energy storage system batteries to support commercial and grid-scale energy storage solutions, a move described as "responding and adapting to changing markets."
Earlier this month, it was announced that LG Energy Solution will acquire full ownership of NextStar Energy, with Stellantis selling its 49 per cent equity stake to LG Energy Solution.
The two companies established a joint venture in 2022 to build NextStar, Canada's first large-scale electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility.
The facility currently employs over 1,300 people, with a long-term target of 2,500 employees as it scales to full production at the $5 billion plant.
NextStar is a 4.23 million square foot facility, located just off the E.C. Row Expressway and Banwell Road.