WEIRTON, W.Va. — Upper Ohio Valley residents turned out in full force for a Form Energy job far in Weirton Thursday afternoon.
Form Energy Co-Founder and President Ted Wiley told MetroNews the Millsop Community Center was packed with those wanting a job at the new plant.
“It’s incredible,” Wiley said. “We had about 200 people sign up in advance and then we had over 100 walk-ins lined up in the gym before the event started.”
Wiley said he began talking to people in line.
“It’s an incredible group of people coming from downtown Weirton, Wheeling, slightly north, all up and down the river. It’s an incredible turn out of folks.”
Form Energy is building a $760 million industrial battery plant on a portion of the old Weirton Steel site. Wiley said construction of the plant is moving along and he hopes production can begin in June. The initial phase in Hancock County is meant to produce 750 well-paying jobs. Wiley said they hope to have several hundred hired in the months to come.
“We’ll be looking to hire about a hundred people in the next few weeks to get he factory up and running and started. We’ll hire up to 300 by the end of the year,” Wiley said.
He said the jobs offer competitive prevailing wage pay and an outstanding benefits package. Wiley said Thursday’s turnout was something they really hoped for.
“We got people with incredibly relevant skill-sets in maintenance, driving forklifts, doing assembly. There are a lot of people that come here with an incredible skill-set already,” Wiley said.
The iron-air battery manufacturing plant is financed by millions of dollars of private investments, but there are also millions of public dollars going toward the project.
The Inflation Reduction Act incentives are mainly through tax credits for clean energy factories built on former industrial sites, as well as for battery storage projects like the one Form Energy is building.
Looking over the crowd gathered Thursday at the Millsop Community Center, Wiley said West Virginia continues to deliver.
“I came here and the moment I set foot here in West Virginia I got an incredibly warm welcome, the Form team got an incredibly warm welcome from the people of West Virginia and that has continued to be born out,” Wiley said. “Everybody I met (Thursday) said, ‘I’m looking for opportunity. I’m looking for work.’ I asked them, ‘What kind of work?’ They said, ‘I’m looking for something engaging, exciting, something I can make a career out of,'” Wiley said.
Another job fair is scheduled for Feb. 8. Wiley is urging those interested to make appointments online with the company because there are limited walk-in slots available.
The company’s battery technology operates through a “reversible rusting” process. The battery breathes in oxygen from the air and converts iron metal to rust. When the battery charges, the reverse happens. An electrical current converts the rust back to iron, and the battery breathes out oxygen.
MetroNews Statewide Correspondent Brad McElhinny contributed to this story.