Natron Energy's $1.4B sodium-ion battery gigafactory at the Kingsboro megasite in Edgecombe County, NC, was announced August 15, 2024. More than 1,000 jobs. Average salary of $64,071. A JDIG authorization of up to $21.7M over 12 years. An anticipated Megasite Readiness Program grant of up to $30M to Edgecombe County for site preparation. Thirteen months later, the company ceased all operations.
Zero state dollars were disbursed. The JDIG required verified job creation and investment targets before any payment. Those targets were never approached. The Megasite Readiness funds, awarded to the county rather than the company, had not cleared final approvals.
Between announcement and collapse, none of the intermediate steps materialized: no financing close, no construction permit, no site work at Kingsboro, no revised performance metrics. Natron's Michigan facility had opened only in April 2024, four months before the company announced a 40x capacity expansion in North Carolina. By August 27, 2025, the board determined fundraising efforts had failed.
North Carolina's incentive architecture worked exactly as designed. The deal never crossed a single checkpoint that would have triggered a payment. For ED directors evaluating announced projects in their own markets, the Natron sequence is a clean illustration of why performance-gated structures protect public dollars even when the company collapses.
Checkpoints the deal never crossed:
Financing close — No public announcement of committed capital between August 2024 and closure
Construction permit — Never issued at Kingsboro
Site work commenced — No ground disturbance reported
Performance thresholds met — JDIG required verified job creation and investment; neither occurred
JDIG disbursed — $0 of $21.7M authorized
Megasite Readiness funds disbursed — $0 of $30M anticipated; final approvals not completed before collapse
Revised metrics issued — Original announcement figures ($1.4B, 1,000+ jobs) remained unrevised at shutdown
Kingsboro itself remains viable. CSX Select designation since 2014. Foreign trade zone and opportunity zone. 500-acre pad-ready parcel with infrastructure from a prior project. This is the second announced project to collapse at the site. Both passed due diligence. Both failed on the company side.