The Regional City Manager group meeting hosted recently in Weirton toured a new manufacturing facility, said Moundsville City Manager Rick Healy.

Healy informed members of Moundsville City Council that the meeting included a tour of the new Form Energy battery plant prior to having lunch.

“The plant is constructed on the former Weirton Steel property and is the exact opposite (of a steel mill) — being ultra clean and bright,” he said.

“Form Energy’s Form Factory 1 manufactures iron-air batteries in their first high-volume battery manufacturing facility. These batteries are loaded into large cargo-type containers and are sold to utilities to use on the electric grid.”

Healy noted the plant was constructed in about a year’s time and offers 550,000 square feet of space. It currently employs about 500 people with that number expected to increase to 750.

“This project demonstrates that large-scale, advanced manufacturing can be achieved rapidly and at high volumes in the United States,” he said.

“The day we toured their first shipment was leaving the facility, heading to Michigan.”

Healy noted the next Regional City Manager meeting is slated to be held sometime in January in Moundsville.

He said the group was formed last year “at the urging of Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron.”

“It includes city managers from the Northern Panhandle and Belmont County,” he added. “We meet quarterly for lunch; a different city hosts each time and discusses issues, problems, success stories, etc.”

Healy said the meetings allow city managers to “bounce ideas off of one another, ask about new programs and how things work.”