Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is moving forward with a plan, first floated this spring, to redevelop part of an idled West Virginia sheet steel plant and make distribution transformers there.
Lourenco Goncalves, the chairman president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, said July 22 his team will invest $100 million in the project in Weirton on the Ohio River; the state of West Virginia will chip in another $50 million in the form of a forgivable loan. The goal: Use Cleveland-Cliffs steel from plants in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Indiana to manufacture transformers that have been in very short supply since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cleveland-Cliffs’ goal is to have the new plant up and running in the first half of 2026. Officials didn’t disclose the planned capacity of their project but did note that it will give job opportunities to 600 employees sidelined by the idling of the tinplate mill.
“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,” Goncalves said in a statement. “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.”
With its West Virginia plan, Cleveland-Cliffs joins electrical equipment manufacturers Siemens, Eaton and Hitachi Energy, among others, in investing to alleviate the shortage of transformers. Researchers have estimated that projected energy demand growth from electrification, the use of artificial intelligence and other sources will mean that the U.S.’ stock of transformers needs to grow (from 2021 levels) by between 160% and 260% by 2050.
“Your buildout and what you’re going to do is not only great for Weirton and great for 600 people,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice told workers in attendance at an event in Weirton July 22. “It’s unbelievable for this nation.”
