County officials have approved around $3 million financial incentives to bring a new industry to the former Acu-Rite building in West Ellicott.

During the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency meeting, board members unanimously approved resolutions which will give Electrovaya, Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada tax breaks to move into the former industrial building.

John Gibson, chief financial officer for Electrovaya said they will convert the building into a gigafactory where it will produce lithium batteries for energy storage, for electric buses and electric forklifts. “This is going to generate about 150 jobs for the first phase … up to 250+ jobs for the gigawatt phase,” he told board members Tuesday.

Electrovaya is borrowing $34 million for the project. They have other state grants and loans as well. “We’re well on the way to fully funding this,” Gibson said.

According to documents filed on the project. the entire project is expected to cost $42.5 million to complete. Electrovaya has hired its plant manager, who will start Sept. 1. From there, they will move forward with the build-out of the operation, which will take 15-18 months to complete.

According to Milian Tyler with the county IDA, Electrovaya will receive $572,000 in property tax breaks, $62,000 in mortgage recording tax breaks, and $2.4 million in sales and use tax breaks. The resolutions authorizing the financial incentives were unanimous approved.

County IDA Board Chairman Gary Henry noted that many local schools are converting from gasoline to electric-powered buses. “Maybe some of your batteries will end up on those buses and you’ll be powering us locally,” he said.