KORE Power looks to expand with Barre facility
September 27, 2024 | By Cheryl Casey | Correspondent
KORE Power would be located near WEG Industries, a motors and generators company that also deals with battery storage systems. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Waterbury power-storage manufacturer KORE Power plans to open a second Vermont location in Barre where it recently received unanimous approval from the Barre Town Development Review Board for a warehouse for assembling battery storage systems and storing system components.
KORE plans to move into a commercial facility at 29 Pitman Road, a mixed-use office and warehouse building zoned for industrial use. One of the current tenants is WEG Industries, a motors and generators company that also deals with battery storage systems.
After a walk-through of the site with representatives of KORE Power, building owner Malone Properties, and fire marshals from the Vermont Division of Fire Safety, Barre Town Planning and Zoning Administrator Brandon Garbacik recommended in a report to the DRB that permission be granted in part because “the applicant is proposing an industrial use within a building…that is essentially the same as one of the existing uses in that building.”
The permit contains conditions, and KORE Power’s use of the facility is dependent upon the company obtaining additional industry-related permits from the State of Vermont as well as complying with requirements pertaining to storage of the batteries themselves. The batteries must be stored in racks above the warehouse floor and at a charge of no more than 30%.
KORE Power Vice President of Operations Larry Brand attended the review board’s meeting earlier this month and clarified that 30% is the “industry standard for safe storage.” Anything above that level would require additional sprinklers and containment space, he explained.
As part of the application, KORE Power also assessed other impacts its operation might have to the vicinity and company officials testified those would be low. According to KORE Power President Jay Bellows, the facility is “an ideal location” for reasons of logistics and impact.
“We are confident that we will be able to get product in and out of that site without disrupting local traffic, like school buses or people trying to get home after work,” he wrote in an email.
Bellows said he expected the approximately 20 employees who will work at the Barre location will be a mix of Waterbury personnel and new hires at first. “We’re committed to on-the-job training,” he explained, adding, “With the demand we are seeing for our products we’re looking at sustained growth in the coming year. Most hires in Barre will be new hires.”
The Pitman Road location is in an existing commercial park. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
KORE Power’s parent corporation is based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which acquired the Vermont operation – formerly Northern Reliability – in March 2022.
Expressing commitment to the future of KORE Power in Vermont, Bellows optimistically noted, “We have been very fortunate at KORE, because we have been able to grow our Vermont workforce from 22 employees in 2022 to just over 80 employees today…we are confident that by early 2026, which is a little more than a year away we will have, at the very least, more than doubled our Vermont workforce.”