Graphite One Abandons Warren for Conneaut After Power Grid Holds Up Ohio Anode Plant

Graphite One moves Ohio anode plant to Conneaut due to insufficient grid power, plans Q4 2027 start at 10,000 tonnes/year, sends samples to EV makers.

Graphite One's decision to ditch its original Ohio site wasn't about cost or labor — it was about volts. The company had planned to build its anode materials plant in Warren, but the local power grid lacked the capacity to support the energy-hungry process of turning graphite into battery-grade material. Instead, the Canadian miner has pivoted to Conneaut, a Lake Erie town in Ashtabula County, where an existing substation can deliver the electricity needed without a multi-year grid upgrade.

The relocation, announced on May 19, 2026, comes with a lease agreement signed with a subsidiary of Canadian National Railway. That gives Graphite One direct rail access via the Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, a critical link in its planned logistics chain: raw graphite from the Graphite Creek deposit in Alaska will travel south by rail to Conneaut for processing. The company's COO, Mike Schaffner, said the site offers the scalability needed to match rising demand.

Timeline hardens as Phase 1 targets 10,000 tonnes

With the site secured, Graphite One has laid out a concrete timeline. The first phase of production is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of 2027, kicking off at an initial capacity of 10,000 tonnes of anode material per year. A second expansion phase would lift that to 25,000 tonnes annually by the third quarter of 2028, pending market conditions and customer commitments.

That modular approach allows the company to start small while preserving the option to ramp up quickly. The entire project remains part of Graphite One's vertically integrated strategy — tying a planned Alaskan mine to an Ohio processing hub — and positions the company as a potential domestic source of critical minerals for the US battery supply chain.

Customer sampling moves ahead

On the commercial side, Graphite One has already shipped anode samples weighing up to 20 kilograms to three electric-vehicle manufacturers and three leading battery producers. Those materials are now being used in qualification trials, with early-stage offtake discussions underway. The company expects the new Conneaut location to speed up the certification process, bringing it closer to binding purchase agreements.

Stock bounces but remains well off highs

The market gave a modest nod to the site announcement — shares climbed roughly 6% on the day the Conneaut plan was disclosed. But the stock, trading around €0.77, still sits at about half the year's peak of €1.52 reached in January. Year-to-date losses stand at roughly 35%, reflecting the reality that Graphite One remains a pre-revenue project developer with no production until at least late 2027.

Graphite One is currently performing due diligence on the Conneaut site before signing a final lease. The pace of the first construction phase hinges on that closing. For now, all eyes are on the qualification process and whether the ongoing customer conversations translate into firm offtake deals by the time the plant is ready to run.