Cleveland-Cliffs Announces Its New State-of-the-Art Electrical Transformer Production Plant in Weirton, West Virginia
22 Juli 2024 - 1:00PM
Business Wire
Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE: CLF) announced today that it
will establish a new electrical distribution transformer production
plant in Weirton, West Virginia. This downstream direct investment
by Cleveland-Cliffs in Weirton will address the critical shortage
of distribution transformers that is stifling economic growth
across the United States. Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs'
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer will host a press
conference with West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and other
elected officials in Weirton today, July 22. The announcement will
highlight Cleveland-Cliffs’ investment to repurpose its Half Moon
Warehouse in Weirton to commence production of three-phase
distribution transformers used in electric power distribution
systems. The total capital investment is $150 million, of which $50
million (or one third) will be granted by the state of West
Virginia to Cliffs through a forgivable loan. Cliffs expects the
new plant to come online in the first half of 2026. The efficiency
standards for distribution transformers recently promulgated by the
U.S. Department of Energy support the long-term utilization of
highly-efficient American-made Grain Oriented Electrical Steel
(GOES), ensuring the viability of this investment in Weirton.
This investment will result in reemployment opportunities for
600 USW-represented workers from the indefinitely idled Weirton
tinplate mill. The new electrical transformer plant will also
generate additional demand for American-made GOES, exclusively
produced in the United States by Cleveland-Cliffs, at its Butler
Works steel mill in Butler, Pennsylvania. Additional demand for
GOES will ultimately result in additional production of GOES at
Butler Works, generating the opportunity of employment expansion
for the UAW-represented workforce in Butler, Pennsylvania. In
addition to Cliffs’ GOES, the new transformer plant in West
Virginia will also consume stainless and carbon steel produced by
Cliffs in several other of its steel plants in Ohio, Michigan and
Indiana.
Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs' Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer stated, “Distribution transformers are
critical to the maintenance and expansion of America’s electric
grid. These transformers are in short supply, and that shortage
stifles economic growth across the country. The shortage will
continue to be exacerbated by the widespread adoption of Artificial
Intelligence in virtually all sectors of the economy, which will
exponentially increase the consumption of electricity, in the
United States and worldwide. Said another way, there will be no AI
without electricity, and there will be no electricity without
transformers. Our vision for Weirton is to develop a
first-of-a-kind center of excellence for transformer manufacturing
that will provide good paying, middle class jobs to skilled
workers, and will service our country’s electrical infrastructure
needs.”
Mr. Goncalves concluded: “The former Weirton site offers
significant growth opportunity, with the needed infrastructure in
place and a world class highly-trained workforce ready to be
deployed. Very importantly, Weirton is located in West Virginia, a
state where the legislative and the executive branches prove every
day that things can happen really fast and efficiently. We thank
Governor Justice for helping to advance this critical project and
the Governor’s West Virginia Department of Economic Development for
extending a forgivable loan of $50 million in support of our
investment. I would also like to express appreciation to our
Weirton host community and numerous elected officials from the
region for their ongoing support of Cleveland-Cliffs.”
United Steelworkers Local 2911 President, Mark Glyptis, stated,
“This investment by Cleveland-Cliffs will provide employment
opportunity for the hard working, skilled Steelworkers of USW Local
2911. The new plant builds on Weirton’s proud legacy of
steelmaking, and will establish our region as a hub for
manufacturing of transformers needed to support the economic and
national security of the United States. I thank Lourenco Goncalves
for remaining dedicated to this community and Governor Justice for
the strong support by the State of West Virginia. Finally, I
reaffirm the commitment of USW Local 2911 to the success and future
growth of transformer production in Weirton.”
Weirton Press Conference Featured Speakers
- Lourenco Goncalves, Cleveland-Cliffs' Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer
- The Honorable Jim Justice, Governor of West Virginia
- West Virginia Delegate Pat McGeehan
- West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore
- United Steelworkers Local 2911 leadership
Livestream Details: Cleveland-Cliffs Weirton
Announcement Press Conference Monday, July 22, 2024
Time: 2:00 PM EDT
The live broadcast is accessible via Cleveland-Cliffs’ YouTube
channel:
https://youtube.com/live/lAuPMkpec8c?feature=share
A replay will be available after the event on Cleveland-Cliffs’
channel.
About Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.
Cleveland-Cliffs is a leading North America-based steel producer
with focus on value-added sheet products, particularly for the
automotive industry. The Company is vertically integrated from the
mining of iron ore pellets, production of direct reduced iron, and
processing of ferrous scrap through primary steelmaking and
downstream finishing, stamping, tooling, and tubing. Headquartered
in Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland-Cliffs employs approximately 28,000
people across its operations in the United States and Canada.
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INVESTOR CONTACT: James Kerr Director, Investor Relations
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