Craig Howell HOPE FOR FUTURE – Form Energy CEO Mateo Jaramillo addressed members of the Rotary Club of Weirton Heights and the Weirton Rotary Club during a combined meeting held Tuesday morning. Jaramillo spoke about the development of Form Energy, its selection of Weirton for its manufacturing center, and the company’s hopes for the future.

WEIRTON – Officials with Form Energy continue to see growth not only for the company but the community in the years ahead.

“We’re at an exciting time in the company,” announced Mateo Jaramillo, CEO of Form Energy, while addressing a joint meeting of members of the Rotary Club of Weirton Heights and the Weirton Rotary Club Tuesday morning.

Officially opening its doors in Weirton in September 2024, Form Energy now occupies a 1 million-square-foot facility and employs just over 400 people, Jaramillo said, explaining the company is ramping up delivery of its iron-air battery product as well as announcing new agreements.

Much of Form Energy’s customers have been electric utilities, such as Xcel Energy in Minnesota, Dominion Energy in Virginia and Georgia Energy, with officials noting there has been a surge in demand on the nation’s power grid, both as a result of the development of data centers for artificial intelligence and other technological needs and growth in other industries.

Form’s iron-air batteries have the capability of being charged and holding it until that power is needed.

“It makes it a more reliable, lower-cost electric grid,” Jaramillo said, adding the demand for Form’s batteries has been higher than anticipated and the company expects that to lead to the need for more employees as it begins to make full use of its Weirton facility, known as Form Factory 1.

When announcing its plans to come to Weirton, Form Energy guaranteed a minimum of 750 employees, with Jaramillo saying the company is ahead of its schedule for hiring many of those positions and anticipates being able to surpass that original promised number.

“We have found just a fantastic workforce,” he said, noting that while some specialized positions have required recruitment from outside of the region, out of the majority of those working at Form Factory 1, approximately one-third are from West Virginia, another third are from Ohio and the final third are from Pennsylvania.

Officials also noted that from the beginning of construction until now, Form Energy has been responsible for injecting approximately $5 million into the local economy.

Explaining their manufacturing process doesn’t use a large amount of water, Form Energy also works to recycle as much of its waste as possible.

“There’s not a lot of landfill for us to redirect,” he said.

In addition, while the iron used in the batteries currently is sourced from Sweden, Jaramillo said Form is working to be able to acquire the mineral from the Iron Range of the northern United States.

Among its recent announcements were agreements to supply batteries for FuturEnergy Ireland, its first international contract, and Crusoe, a company which specializes in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

(Howell can be contacted at chowell@weirtondailytimes.com

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