Investments in auto production and transportation and energy infrastructure are among large projects announced or getting underway this summer.
By Brian Taylor, Senior Editor
Increased production at a Texas auto assembly plant, a bridge spanning the Ohio River and a solar farm in Arkansas are among the large-scale projects poised to have an impact on construction activity and metals demand.
Earlier this month, Toyota Motor North America Inc. announced an investment of $3.6 billion will be made into its San Antonio assembly plant in Texas, including the establishment of a second vehicle assembly line.
“The investment is aimed at further enhancing Toyota’s locally rooted and competitive production system,” states the United States business unit of the Japan-based automaker.
The announced second line assembly is scheduled to begin operating in 2030 and will increase annual production capacity at the plant by approximately 150,000 vehicles.
Auto assembly plants generate steady amounts of recycled materials, including metal, old corrugated containers (OCC) and plastic film. They also can support activity at nearby component supply plants that can generate demand for basic materials and the generation of recyclables.
Toyota says production of its Tacoma mid-size pickup will be transferred from a facility in Baja California, Mexico, to the San Antonio plant over the course of the next four years.
Also this month, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at a site in Arkansas for what its backers call the largest American solar energy project to date.
Durham, North Carolina-based Cypress Creek Energy and tech firm Google today joined community leaders, project partners, and elected officials at a groundbreaking event for the first two phases of Steel River Energy Center.
The project’s first two phases will deliver 1.6 gigawatt direct current (GWdc) of new solar generation and 1.9 gigawatt hours (GWh)of new battery storage to the local grid. Once fully complete, the three-phase project will provide 2.5 GWdc of solar and 2.9 GWh of battery storage by 2029, says Cypress Creek, calling that enough electricity to power more than 315,000 homes each year.
In the first two construction phases, more than 400,000 steel piles will be put in place, with the combined piles using more than 142,000 tons of steel produced at the recycled-content electric arc furnace (EAF) U.S. Steel Big River facility in Osceola, Arkansas.
Google, a user of considerable electrical power in its data center network, has signed a power purchase agreement with Cypress Creek to consume energy generated by the first two phases of Steel River Energy Center.
In addition to data center project spending, funding from the federal CHIPS Act continues to flow. This week, Germany-based Bosch announced an agreement with the Donald J. Trump administration for up to $225 million in CHIPS funding to support its investment of up to $2 billion to produce silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors in Roseville, California.
Another large solar project in Arkansas involves recycled-content producer Hybar LLC as an energy consumer. A Hybar sister company called Green & Clean Power LLC has built a sizable behind-the-meter solar and battery storage facility that will supply Hybar EAF mills in Osceola, at times with 100 percent of its energy needs.
A sizable transportation infrastructure project that straddles a state border is getting underway this summer in the form of a second Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River between Kentucky and Ohio.
Rather than replacing an existing highway bridge, the new structure will run parallel to the older one in a bid to alleviate what the project’s backers call “among the worst traffic bottlenecks in the U.S.”
“The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project represents one of the most significant transportation improvements in the country,” says Ohio Department of Transportation Director Pamela Boratyn of the $4 billion project.
The project is partially funded each state and by two U.S. Department of Transportation grants totaling more than $1.6 billion, which project organizers call among the largest transportation grants in U.S. history.
A LinkedIn post made late last year by the Brent Street Bridge Corridor organization indicates the bridge design selected would entail the use of some 47,500 tons of steel.
