Solar And Batteries Will Fuel This W.Va. Titanium Plant

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By Curtis Tate, West Virginia Public Broadcasting. 

Excerpt: A titanium factory that’s powered by renewable energy is in the final months of construction in Jackson County. ...It’s the scene of construction of the first phase of a titanium smelter, powered by electricity generated from the sun. ...This is a unique project for West Virginia. A metal manufacturer, Timet, will use electricity produced across the highway at a solar facility run by Berkshire Hathaway Renewables. ...“We’re charging the batteries during the day, while we’re also consuming some of the energy, and then at night, we would be discharging the batteries,” he said. ...It’s a turnaround for an area that lost so many workers when the aluminum plant closed. ...The titanium produced here will be used in aerospace and for medical implants, he says. Across Highway 2, solar panels blanket the landscape on all sides. Not all of them have been installed yet, and Berkshire Hathaway has yet to drill under the road to get the power to Timet. ...The solar site will generate 106 megawatts. When it becomes operational, it will produce five times the power of the state’s current largest.... 

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