The funding from the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) will accelerate construction of Sublime’s first commercial manufacturing plant in Holyoke, Mass., while expanding economic opportunity for the community, a former paper manufacturing hub
SOMERVILLE, Mass., March 25, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Sublime Systems — which is advancing a fossil-fuel-free, scalable, drop-in replacement for traditional cement in concrete — was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) to begin award negotiations for up to $87 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding as part of the Industrial Demonstrations Program (IDP). Sublime’s First Commercial Electrochemical Cement Manufacturing project was selected as one of 33 projects across more than 20 states to receive up to a total of $6 billion to demonstrate commercial-scale decarbonization solutions needed to move energy-intensive industries toward net-zero while strengthening local economies, creating, and maintaining high-quality jobs, and eliminating harmful emissions that jeopardize public health. Sublime had previously announced it selected the site for its first commercial manufacturing facility in Holyoke, Mass., a city that once manufactured most of the paper in the United States.
“Access to sufficient capital for industrial-scale demonstrations is the single biggest obstacle preventing breakthrough innovations from reaching the scale humanity needs to combat the climate crisis,” said Sublime Systems CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Leah Ellis. “The Department of Energy has cleared this obstacle through funding from OCED’s Industrial Demonstrations Program, embracing its unique role in supporting the deployment of the decarbonized technologies of tomorrow. We look forward to collaborating with them on funding our first commercial manufacturing scale-up, which will ship our clean cement while creating meaningful economic opportunities for the surrounding community.”
OCED applicants were required by the DoE to submit Community Benefits Plans (CBPs), in which they must show that they will engage communities and labor, create quality jobs, and prioritize economic and environmental justice for disadvantaged groups. Sublime was guided to Holyoke through screening tools created by Justice 40, an initiative that directs 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments to flow to disadvantaged communities.
Sublime expects to create hundreds of jobs during the construction phase of the project and 70-90 ongoing roles once the plant is operational. The company has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United Steelworkers (USW) — which represents approximately half of unionized cement workers in the U.S. today — focused on operational positions in the Holyoke plant. Sublime has also signed Memoranda of Understanding to negotiate project labor agreements with the region’s building trade unions, for the construction phase of the project.
April 23, 2024
April 23, 2024