NEW YORK (AP) — General Electric Co. said Tuesday it will spend $70 million to expand a battery factory in Schenectady, N.Y.
The expansion will add 100 jobs and double the facility's production capacity. It's expected to be completed in 2015. The factory will build Durathon battery products, which are half the size of conventional lead acid batteries, but last 10 times longer.
The battery factory is part of the company's energy storage business that GE CEO Jeff Immelt expects to generate "more than $1 billion in revenue annually in just a few years."
"We'll continue to expand the business into new areas beyond telecommunications to build the next generation of energy-efficient buses, locomotives and mining vehicles around the world," Immelt said in a statement.
The factory has received $20 million in state and local development grants.
GE said the Schenectady factory will work to fill an order for 6,000 Durathon batteries from Megatron Federal, a South African engineering firm. The batteries will be delivered in 2013 and used for communications facilities in Nigeria. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Shares of General Electric slipped 5 cents, to $19.99 in morning trading.