STEEL PRODUCTION POWERED BY RENEWABLES
Steel Authority of India Limited has announced an expansion of its Bokaro Steel Plant, located in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand. The $2.33 billion investment will position the company to increase its current 5.25 million tons per annum (MTPA) to 7.55 MTPA, creating 2,500 new jobs in the region. In addition to increased production capacity, upgrades will also include a new blast furnace, a thin slab casting and direct rolling facility, a calcining plant. a stamp-charge coke oven battery and expansion of a sinter facility. The project will allow the company to reduce carbon emissions from 2.67 metric tons (mt) per mt of crude steel to under 2.2 mt within the next five years. This initiative is bolstered by integration of a combined 50 megawatts (MW) of solar power installations at the site and 100 MW of renewable energy provided by a power purchase agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India.
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REVIVAL OF A DORMANT PAPER PLANT
Following a sudden shutdown of International Paper’s operations in Orange, Texas, in 2023, Chicago-based USG Paper (part of United States Gypsum) is stepping in to bring the facility back to life. The city announced on social media that the project would bring a new $715 million investment and create up to 150 new jobs. USG is set to manufacture wallboard and gypsum products following upgrades to the facility, producing paper used to make sheetrock for construction purposes. The City of Orange EDC Board of Directors and the Orange City Council will support the project with a tax incentive up to $200,000 for eligible infrastructure improvements over a two-year period. Construction at the site is set to begin in late 2025 with full operations set to commence by early 2028.
Photo courtesy of Pratt & Whitney
NORTH CAROLINA EXPANSION TAKES FLIGHT
Aerospace company Pratt & Whitney announced last week that a $285 million expansion is headed toward its five-year-old western North Carolina operations in Buncombe County, where the company plans to increase production capacity at its turbine airfoil manufacturing facility catered to aircraft jet engines. “Pratt & Whitney’s continued investment in Asheville is critical to meet the growing demand for our products, such as the GTF for the A320 family and the F135 for the F-35 Lightning II,” said Pratt & Whitney Asheville General Manager Dan Field. “This latest round of investment will allow us to add critical process elements for the manufacture of turbine airfoils and increase the overall delivery output of this facility, enabling us to deliver on our customer commitments while creating hundreds of new jobs in the Asheville community.” The expansion project is anticipated to create 325 new jobs in the region.
Reports compiled and written by Alexis Elmore
