West Virginia U.S. Senator Shelly Moore Capito made her way to Weirton on Monday to tour Form Energy's Factory 1 and she said a lot has changed since the last time she was here three years ago.
"There's no comparison as to where the flat land that was still being cleaned out when I was once here and it was sad, sad to see because you knew tens of thousands of people have worked here and their ancestors,” Moore Capito said. “Now, we have the same feeling of just a rejuvenation."
Capito had the chance to learn the ins and outs of how the batteries are constructed.
"How they are doing the quality control testing,” Moore Capito said. “Also, how they’re changing some of their processes with the engineering before they go into full production. So, it was kind of like watching the baby steps as you are beginning to create a whole new manufacturing sector."
Form Energy broke ground in May 2023 and a lot of work has been accomplished since. Construction is finished, but Form Energy CEO Mateo Jaramillo said growth will always be happening.
"The process is really being brought up right now, so we are running our production trials,” he said. “We are making those initial cells. We are testing them and we will be doing that activity over the rest of this year.”
Jaramillo said deliveries will begin at the start of 2025.
In the future, when operation is at full capacity, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 500 megawatts of batteries. By the end of 2027, they expect to have 750 workers hired. Currently, there are a few hundred already working.
Capito believes what Form Energy is bringing to the Northern Panhandle and Weirton is going to make a great impact.
"This is going to revitalize every home, every school, every small business in this area for decades to come,” she said.