The Timet site in Ravenswood is utilizing local contractors and local workers to do the construction of its titanium melting facility. (Photo Provided)

RAVENSWOOD — The Timet site in Ravenswood is being described by some state lawmakers as a “game-changer” for the future of business development in the state.

As part of the legislative interim session that occurred in Parkersburg earlier in the week, a group of lawmakers traveled to the Timet site in Ravenswood where lawmakers were given a tour of the site and what they can expect in the future.

Lawmakers saw the new plant which will operate under the Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC) subsidiary Titanium Metals Corporation Inc. as well as the site that will be operated under BHE (Berkshire Hathaway Energy) Renewables to supply power to the facility. The two companies are collaborating to build this project in Jackson County.

There has been an increased demand for titanium to be used in aircraft and other industries, said Steve Wright, president of PCC.

“I think back to the start of this journey in 2022,” Wright said. “We saw a need due to the growing aerospace industry and we needed to increase our capacity in the titanium melting area which is what we are doing here.

1. Steve Wright, president of Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), welcomed a group of West Virginia lawmakers to the Timet site near Ravenswood early this week. Lawmakers were taken on a tour of the construction site where a new titanium melting facility is being constructed. (Photo Provided)

“This will be a state-of-the-art facility.”

PCC specializes in the production of titanium products for aerospace, defense, industrial, and medical applications.

The facility will include different aspects of receiving materials, compacting them and more. The facility will have an electron beam furnace and vacuum arc furnaces as well as other equipment.

The Ravenswood facility will employ approximately 200 people and expects to use 100% renewable energy to manufacture titanium products, company officials said. The facility will have 24/7 production.

BHE Renewables is developing its property into a first-of-its-kind solar energy microgrid-powered industrial site, they said, adding it generates electricity using solar panels and often includes energy storage solutions like batteries. The project will quadruple the number of solar panels in the state.

Dan Winters, vice president of corporate communications and public relations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy Renewables spoke to West Virginia lawmakers earlier this week during a tour of the Timet site near Ravenswood. BHE Renewables is setting up a first-of-its-kind solar energy microgrid-powered industrial site which will generate electricity using solar panels. (Photo Provided)

The microgrid in Ravenswood will consist of solar arrays placed on 1,800 acres of land that BHE Renewables purchased from the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. The panels will generate solar energy that will power Timet’s facility.

Dan Winters, vice president of corporate communications and public relations for BHE Renewables, said it all started with a letter from State Sen. Glenn Jeffries, R-Putnam, to Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and invited his people to come tour the state to look at possible development opportunities.

“We came,” Winters said. “We showed up on that invitation and began looking around West Virginia.”

Jeffries believed there were great opportunities in the state, Winters said.

“It was more than what people might have seen from the outside,” he said. “When we saw it, we believed. It led us here to the Ravenswood site.”

State lawmakers were taken on a tour of the Timet site near Ravenswood earlier this week as earth is being moved and construction is well underway. (Photo Provided)

The project broke ground in early 2023, with site preparation, company officials said. The construction phase of buildings began in March 2024, and the facility is expected to become operational with the completion of phase one in early 2025. The business park area sits on 2,200 acres.

Lawmakers were taken around the site to observe the construction work being done and get information about the company, the layout of the facility, the processes the materials go through, how the company has already started engaging with the community on a number of school projects and more.

Officials from both PCC and BHE Renewables commended lawmakers with how smoothly the process went to secure the site and get the project going as well as how excited people in the local community and the surrounding area were to have this facility come. Some said there were other parts of the country where they would not have been able to do a project of this scope.

“It is your leadership that is the reason we are standing here,” Winters said.

Officials believed the site will be a global aerospace manufacturing hub and could bring other related businesses to the state. West Virginians are being employed during the construction of the facility and many West Virginians will also be employed there once it is operational. They are also planning for potential expansion on the Ravenswood site.

Del. Lori Dittman, R-Braxton, was among the state lawmakers who toured the Timet site near Ravenswood. Lawmakers were shown the site as well as told the potential for economic development it will bring to the state. (Photo Provided)

Wright said there were 189 contractors on site and it expected to get up to 500.

Del. Lori Dittman, R-Braxton, said she was impressed with the size and scope of the project as well as its plans for the future. At times, she said she was “overwhelmed” with what she has seen and heard.

“This is fantastic,” she said. “This is going to be a game changer for the people in this area, not just here but for our state as well.”

There was talk on the tour where locals commended the company for bringing back people who had to move out of state for employment opportunities. Dittman commended the efforts of company officials to engage with and invest in the local community.

“This is going to drive opportunities for local residents,” Dittman said. “People will be able to return to the state with opportunities like this.

“The products they are making will go all over the world and they will be made here in West Virginia.”

Dittman said she is excited to see what develops at the Ravenswood site and how it will continue to grow.

“We are going to see growth here and I hope we will see other industries that will want to come here to West Virginia, because of the success this is having,” she said. “It (and Nucor Steel West Virginia LLC in Mason County) will be a magnet for growth.”

Del. J.B. Akers, R- Kanawha, said the Ravenswood site was “an economic dream come true for the community” as well as “a positive partnership for the state.”

He commended the excitement the project is generating locally.

“I like the enthusiasm going forward,” Akers said. “I think this is step-one to more positive developments we are going to see.

“I don’t think this project will be the end of the road. I think you will see great stuff happening around this. I can’t be more excited to see what comes next.”