When it came to choosing a site to develop its first U.S. facility, India-based Epsilon Advanced Materials cast a wide net, considering sites across six states.

The company initially looked at sites in Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina for its new manufacturing facility, which was code-named Project Resilience by North Carolina officials. 

Site visits and information-gathering narrowed the field to two finalists – Brunswick County and Jackson, Tennessee, according to emails and other documents obtained from the N.C. Department of Commerce through a public records request.

The records also show North Carolina officials assembled an incentives package that could provide up to $37.6 million to help draw the company to Brunswick County, including a potential reimbursement of more than $3.4 million over 12 years from the state's Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program.

In October 2023, Epsilon officials announced plans to build a 1.5 million-square-foot facility in Brunswick County’s Mid-Atlantic Industrial Rail Park. The company, which manufactures graphite for the lithium-ion batteries, plans to invest more than $650 million in the new plant, creating 500 jobs with an average salary of more than $52,000.

Months earlier, Epsilon officials made a site visit to Brunswick County in early April 2023, according to an email dated March 27, 2023, from Austin Rouse, director of business recruitment at the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, to Susan Fleetwood, executive director of economic development with the N.C. Department of Commerce.

“I am requesting Dept. of Commerce leadership join for the meeting as the company’s senior leadership (including leadership from India) will be participating in this visit,” Rouse wrote. “I am envisioning an opportunity to make some brief remarks to the company’s leadership. It has also been requested that we share the state incentive proposal during the meeting as well. The company’s leadership intends to shortlist after this visit.”

The Tennessee site, the other location finalist, was “attractive to the company for many reasons,” including the low cost of power and the cost and availability of labor, according to the company’s application for a Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG). Tennessee also offered Epsilon 7% of the value of its plant and machinery as a credit that could be used to pay some of the company’s taxes.

In Tennessee, the state, local governments and utility providers offered Epsilon “some very attractive financial incentives for that location, including fast-track economic development grants, tax abatements, state tax exemptions and credits, and significant cash grants from the Tennessee Valley Authority, among other items,” the application states.

As part of the $37.6 million North Carolina incentives package, the N.C. Department of Transportation offered $10 million in economic development money to fund an access road to the site, along with $3 million from the Golden LEAF Foundation and $2 million in Community Development Block Grant funding to pay for other infrastructure needed on the site. Incentives also included $1 million from the North Carolina Community College System to support workforce training.

According to state documents, Epsilon must invest at least $584.9 million in the facility by the end of 2028, which represents 90% of the minimum investment amount specified in the JDIG application. The company also has to create a minimum of 450 jobs with a minimum average annual salary of at least $47,037 to avoid default.

Brunswick County pitched a local incentives package of $13.75 million, according to an August 10, 2023, letter from Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business and Industry Development, addressed to Rouse.

The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners supported the local incentive package at a meeting in July 2023, Early wrote. The local package includes the county’s purchase of around 155 acres for Epsilon’s footprint and rail spur, wetland mitigation costs, extension of water and wastewater lines, construction of access roads, along with local discretionary incentives, according to the letter. Early writes that the proposed incentives are an increase from a previous $10 million proposal.

“We believe Project Resilience is a great fit for our community, which is supported by the willingness of the Brunswick County Commissioners to significantly increase the local incentives package,” Early wrote.

“Our utilities and logistics infrastructure can meet the client’s needs. And as the fastest-growing county in North Carolina and fastest-growing metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the USA, we offer a growing workforce population in a place where the quality of life offers the type of outdoor recreational and cultural opportunities needed to attract and retain skilled workers.”

Brunswick County leaders have yet to adopt a final incentives package for the company, Early told the Business Journal. He said local incentive figures put forward at the time of the announcement were projections. 

“There’s not much I can say about that right now because there is no formal incentive package that’s been finalized,” he said in a call last month. Early added that the final local incentive agreement is still in discussion.

When asked about the local incentives, Brunswick County Communications Director Meagan Kascsak said, “There is not a finalized local incentive agreement at this time, so we do not have anything to share.”

While there isn’t a deadline for approval of the agreement, Early said he expects it will be finalized before construction begins. He added that Brunswick BID is currently working to master plan infrastructure at Mid-Atlantic Industrial Rail Park, including water, wastewater infrastructure and internal roads.

Epsilon expects to break ground on the project in the first quarter of 2026, according to CEO Sunit Kapur. The first phase of construction is expected to take a year and a half, with operations beginning by the fourth quarter of 2027. The company plans to hire 325 full-time employees during its first phase, expanding to 500 total employees upon completion.

Epsilon has completed a detailed geotechnical analysis of the site, mass grading and erosion control design, Kapur told the Business Journal last month. The company has also secured most of its “key pre-construction permits,” including air, wetlands and wastewater, Kapur said. 

Epsilon officials have applied to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality for a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan permit and expect approval in the coming months, Kapur said. Once approved, site clearing and infrastructure can start on the Brunswick County site.