President Joe Biden Eyes Expanding Renewable Energy Production In Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - In his joint address to Congress, President Biden renewed his interest in Pittsburgh, this time as a place where renewable energy production in the U.S. could expand.
"There's simply no reason why the blades in wind turbines can't be built in Pittsburgh instead of Beijing. No reason," said the president.
And some local manufacturers agree.
In a statement, the United States Steel Corporation, poised to become carbon-free by 2050, said, "We see many business opportunities that could arise from the proposed government infrastructure spending that requires steel. That could be anything from wind turbines, as President Biden mentioned, to solar panels to electric vehicles."
"The question is not why can't we. It's why aren't we?" said WindStax Energy CEO Ron Gdovic.
The local company designs, manufactures, and installs vertical wind turbines for customers across the U.S.
They are all under 60 feet tall, while traditional wind turbines tower hundreds of feet high.
To manufacture and transport their blades here may require tons of hard work and increased river waterway traffic, the CEO said.
"You can envision wind turbines being manufactured in the Mon-Valley, placed onto a barge and shipped down river. That's a perfectly acceptable way to move these turbine blades," said Gdovic.
But there are other ways the Steel City could cash in on this multi-billion dollar industry.
As Gdovic explained, windmills have many working parts. And Pittsburgh has many working people standing by to make them.
"There's thousands of parts. There's nacelles, bearings, gears, tons of components that could be made in Pittsburgh," he said.
Gdovic believes expanding the production of these parts could generate hundreds of thousands of jobs in our region alone.
