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Feds tweak electric transformer steel standards that would have jeopardized Cleveland-Cliffs jobs
NEWS
Feds tweak electric transformer steel standards that would have jeopardized Cleveland-Cliffs jobs
Updated: Apr. 08, 2024, 4:06 a.m.|Published: Apr. 06, 2024, 10:00 a.m.
An electric bucket truck lifts a transformer during a mock installation. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)
By Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com
WASHINGTON, D. C. - Following a push from Ohio and Pennsylvania legislators, the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday finalized new electrical distribution transformer energy standards that will continue use of Cleveland-Cliffs steel produced in those states.
The final standards tweak an earlier proposal that would have eliminated the market for grain oriented electrical steel produced by Cleveland-Cliffs, risking 1,500 jobs at the company’s Zanesville Works and Butler Works plants. The company said it might have to close those facilities if the proposed rule wasn’t changed.
Commonly seen on utility poles throughout the country, the transformers lower the voltage of electrical power before it’s distributed to customers. The earlier proposal would have required transformers to shift from using grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) – which is made by Cleveland-Cliffs – to amorphous metal cores by 2027. The final standard retains GOES use, with a small amount of the amorphous alloy that the Energy Department expects to be made in the United States.
An Energy Department statement said the new standard, which includes a longer compliance timeline of five years, will save American utilities and commercial and industrial entities $824 million per year in electricity costs, and increase the demand for GOES. The statement said it adjusted its final standards “based on extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure continued growth opportunities for domestic steel production.”
{snip}
Feds tweak electric transformer steel standards that would have jeopardized Cleveland-Cliffs jobs
Updated: Apr. 08, 2024, 4:06 a.m.|Published: Apr. 06, 2024, 10:00 a.m.
An electric bucket truck lifts a transformer during a mock installation. (Staten Island Advance/Joseph Ostapiuk)
By Sabrina Eaton, cleveland.com
WASHINGTON, D. C. - Following a push from Ohio and Pennsylvania legislators, the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday finalized new electrical distribution transformer energy standards that will continue use of Cleveland-Cliffs steel produced in those states.
The final standards tweak an earlier proposal that would have eliminated the market for grain oriented electrical steel produced by Cleveland-Cliffs, risking 1,500 jobs at the company’s Zanesville Works and Butler Works plants. The company said it might have to close those facilities if the proposed rule wasn’t changed.
Commonly seen on utility poles throughout the country, the transformers lower the voltage of electrical power before it’s distributed to customers. The earlier proposal would have required transformers to shift from using grain-oriented electrical steel (GOES) – which is made by Cleveland-Cliffs – to amorphous metal cores by 2027. The final standard retains GOES use, with a small amount of the amorphous alloy that the Energy Department expects to be made in the United States.
An Energy Department statement said the new standard, which includes a longer compliance timeline of five years, will save American utilities and commercial and industrial entities $824 million per year in electricity costs, and increase the demand for GOES. The statement said it adjusted its final standards “based on extensive stakeholder engagement to ensure continued growth opportunities for domestic steel production.”
{snip}