Southwestern Pennsylvania, once the heart of the US steel industry, now has the potential to revitalize its economy through clean technology manufacturing. The region can leverage its existing strengths in manufacturing and research to overcome decades of economic challenges since the decline of steel and the offshoring of manufacturing, while also fostering cleantech clusters that diversify and strengthen the regional economy.
Over the past decade, cleantech costs have dropped by up to 80 percent, while investment has increased nearly tenfold and solar generation has risen twelvefold. Cleantech clusters—groups of interconnected businesses, research institutions, and other relevant organizations in the same or related clean energy industries located in the same region—could help Southwestern Pennsylvania capture this opportunity. As major innovation hubs, cleantech clusters can generate jobs, attract investment, and increase a region’s competitiveness.
An analysis identified three high-potential cleantech sectors that can reinvigorate manufacturing and strengthen regional economic development in Southwestern Pennsylvania: battery manufacturing, solar component manufacturing, and green buildings. To succeed in cluster development, Southwestern Pennsylvania will need to improve coordination and address workforce gaps. Importantly, cleantech cluster development, like all economic development, should ensure employment and other benefits for communities that have historically been left behind.
Although Southwestern Pennsylvania has a long history of coal mining, steel manufacturing, and fracking, it has in more recent years established itself as an innovation hub in biomedical research, robotics, and even AI. The region’s manufacturing legacy and more recent advanced specialization provide a solid foundation the region can build on to support cleantech cluster development and the economic opportunity it offers.
Battery manufacturing is key to a flexible, reliable grid—especially batteries that use easily obtainable materials and recycling-friendly designs. Southwestern Pennsylvania is a prime location for a grid battery manufacturing cluster because of its existing battery manufacturing, technological innovation, and workforce skills. Local companies have helped develop and bring to market alternative chemistries and novel approaches for batteries. For instance, Eos Energy Enterprises received a $300 million Department of Energy loan to scale the manufacturing of its long duration zinc-based batteries, and startup SeaLion Energy developed a regeneration technology that extends batteries’ lifespans. Further developing these technologies could offer a more sustainable solution to meeting global battery storage demand, which is projected to be nearly six times today’s capacity by 2030.
Battery manufacturing has already created jobs in the region, and a fully developed manufacturing and recycling cluster could help attract investments in related sectors like electric vehicles, solar energy, and green buildings. However, the region will still need to develop workforce capacity in specialized roles like semiconductor processing and computer hardware and electronics engineering, and it will need to ensure it has the lab space needed to support development and demonstration of new technologies.
The United States has rapidly deployed renewable energy resources over the past decade—clean energy investments totaled over $70 billion in 2024 alone, resulting in 37 GW of additional clean energy generation capacity that could power over 7 million homes—but the country has been slow to manufacture solar panels domestically. In recent years, US-based companies like First Solar have developed some parts of the solar supply chain, but gaps remain to meet the current and projected demand for solar. And now, with the repeal of manufacturing and solar deployment tax credits, and with looming tariffs, the picture for domestic solar manufacturing is more uncertain than ever.
However, if you’re going to gamble on domestic solar manufacturing, Southwestern Pennsylvania is a pretty good place to bet on. The region already produces steel and aluminum, setting it up well for component manufacturing, and it has a long history of glass production. Vitro Architectural Glass, North America’s largest glass producer, recently upgraded its facility in Meadville, fewer than 100 miles north of Pittsburgh, to produce flat glass for First Solar. JM Steel has been working with NEXTracker since 2022 to produce racks for solar arrays. This is all important. Southwestern Pennsylvania is one of a handful of places in the country with this past and current expertise.
Further, there is substantial overlap between the workforce skills needed for manufacturing both batteries and solar components, and increasing needed capacity in roles like semiconductor processing and computer hardware and electronics engineering would support both clusters.
As residential, commercial, and industrial buildings are built and retrofit to be more efficient and healthier, they’ll do more than create construction jobs. The demand for these green buildings creates additional opportunities for economic development, like locally manufacturing advanced building materials.
There have been substantial recent advances in industrialized and automated production of building components and materials, allowing faster, cheaper, and site-appropriate construction. Modular housing builder Module has a Last Mile Facility in Pittsburgh that includes a construction innovation lab, a workforce training program, and manufacturing space. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s strengths in manufacturing and robotics make it an excellent place to manufacture the materials it needs for its buildings, and state programs can spur additional demand. For example the state’s Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions (RISE PA) program is providing $396 million in grants for industrial facility projects that reduce energy costs and air pollution.
With so many advantages, why isn’t Southwestern Pennsylvania already a cleantech powerhouse? When it comes to deciding where to site facilities, businesses think about Ohio or southern states first, and Southwestern Pennsylvania economic development stakeholders haven’t prioritized cleantech business attraction. A cleantech cluster initiative— an initiative to steer and organize the region’s efforts focused on cleantech to support the industry’s growth in the region—can help Southwestern Pennsylvania attract investment. The region has similar initiatives for other sectors, such as the Pittsburgh Robotics Network and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance, which have helped build the region’s dominance in these fields. The Robotics Network, for example, developed a dense geographic cluster that provides workspace, leverages public and philanthropic financial support, and plays the role of promoter and convener to connect and coordinate firms, investors, suppliers, and talent. Total investment in Pittsburgh’s robotics sector reached $4.3 billion in 2022.
The initiative could help the region overcome key constraints, like helping economic development stakeholders coordinate to proactively attract cleantech opportunities. It could also facilitate collaboration to identify gaps in the regional economic development and lab-to-market ecosystems and empower organizations in those ecosystems to address those gaps.
These are uncertain times for cleantech manufacturers, but demand for clean energy isn’t going away. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s strengths in innovation and manufacturing position it well to capture the cleantech opportunity. Economic revitalization is within reach if the region can coordinate and proactively prioritize opportunities to build cleantech clusters.
— news from (RMI)
— News Original —
Developing Cleantech Clusters in Southwestern Pennsylvania
How the former steel center of Pennsylvania can leverage its strengths to revitalize and diversify its economy.
Southwestern Pennsylvania may be known as having been the center of the US steel industry, but it now has an opportunity to bolster the regional economy through clean technology manufacturing. The region is well-positioned to leverage its existing strengths — like strong manufacturing and cutting-edge research — to turn around decades of economic development challenges since the decline of steel and the offshoring of manufacturing, while also fostering cleantech clusters that diversify and strengthen the regional economy.
In the past decade, cleantech costs have fallen by up to 80 percent, while investment has increased nearly tenfold and solar generation has risen twelvefold. Cleantech clusters — a group of interconnected businesses, research institutions, and other relevant organizations in the same or related clean energy industries located in the same region — could help Southwestern Pennsylvania capture this opportunity. As major innovation hubs, cleantech clusters can generate jobs, attract investment, and increase a region’s competitiveness.
Our analysis revealed three high-potential cleantech sectors that can reinvigorate manufacturing and strengthen regional economic development in Southwestern Pennsylvania: battery manufacturing, solar component manufacturing, and green buildings. To succeed in cluster development, Southwestern Pennsylvania will need to improve coordination and address workforce gaps. Importantly, cleantech cluster development, like all economic development, should ensure employment and other benefits for communities that have historically been left behind.
Creating jobs and developing an equitable workforce
Although Southwestern Pennsylvania has an extensive history of coal mining, steel manufacturing, and fracking, it has in more recent years established itself as an innovation hub in biomedical research, robotics, and even AI. The region’s manufacturing legacy and more recent advanced specialization provide a solid foundation the region can build on to support cleantech cluster development and the economic opportunity it offers.
Battery manufacturing
Battery energy storage is key to a flexible, reliable grid — especially batteries that use easily obtainable materials and recycling-friendly designs. Southwestern Pennsylvania is a prime location for a grid battery manufacturing cluster because of its existing battery manufacturing, technological innovation, and workforce skills. Local companies have helped develop and bring to market alternative chemistries and novel approaches for batteries. For instance, Eos Energy Enterprises received a $300 million Department of Energy loan to scale the manufacturing of its long duration zinc-based batteries, and startup SeaLion Energy developed a regeneration technology that extends batteries’ lifespans. Further developing these technologies could offer a more sustainable solution to meeting global battery storage demand, which is projected to be nearly six times today’s capacity by 2030.
Battery manufacturing has already created jobs in the region, and a fully developed manufacturing and recycling cluster could help attract investments in related sectors like electric vehicles, solar energy, and green buildings. However, the region will still need to develop workforce capacity in specialized roles like semiconductor processing and computer hardware and electronics engineering, and it will need to ensure it has the lab space needed to support development and demonstration of new technologies.
Solar component manufacturing
The United States has rapidly deployed renewable energy resources over the past decade — clean energy investments totaled over $70 billion in 2024 alone, resulting in 37 GW of additional clean energy generation capacity that could power over 7 million homes — but the country has been slow to manufacture solar panels domestically. In recent years, US-based companies like First Solar have developed some parts of the solar supply chain, but gaps remain to meet the current and projected demand for solar. And now, with the repeal of manufacturing and solar deployment tax credits, and with looming tariffs, the picture for domestic solar manufacturing is more uncertain than ever.
However, if you’re going to gamble on domestic solar manufacturing, Southwestern Pennsylvania is a pretty good place to bet on. The region already produces steel and aluminum, setting it up well for component manufacturing, and it has a long history of glass production. Vitro Architectural Glass, North America’s largest glass producer, recently upgraded its facility in Meadville, fewer than 100 miles north of Pittsburgh, to produce flat glass for First Solar. JM Steel has been working with NEXTracker since 2022 to produce racks for solar arrays. This is all important. Southwestern Pennsylvania is one of a handful of places in the country with this past and current expertise.
Further, there is substantial overlap between the workforce skills needed for manufacturing both batteries and solar components, and increasing needed capacity in roles like semiconductor processing and computer hardware and electronics engineering would support both clusters.
Green buildings and related technologies
As residential, commercial, and industrial buildings are built and retrofit to be more efficient and healthier, they’ll do more than create construction jobs. The demand for these green buildings creates additional opportunities for economic development, like locally manufacturing advanced building materials.
There have been substantial recent advances in industrialized and automated production of building components and materials, allowing faster, cheaper, and site-appropriate construction. Modular housing builder Module has a Last Mile Facility in Pittsburgh that includes a construction innovation lab, a workforce training program, and manufacturing space. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s strengths in manufacturing and robotics make it an excellent place to manufacture the materials it needs for its buildings, and state programs can spur additional demand. For example the state’s Reducing Industrial Sector Emissions (RISE PA) program is providing $396 million in grants for industrial facility projects that reduce energy costs and air pollution.
A cleantech cluster initiative can improve coordination and help win cleantech investments
With so many advantages, why isn’t Southwestern Pennsylvania already a cleantech powerhouse? When it comes to deciding where to site facilities, businesses think about Ohio or southern states first, and Southwestern Pennsylvania economic development stakeholders haven’t prioritized cleantech business attraction. A cleantech cluster initiative — an initiative to steer and organize the region’s efforts focused on cleantech to support the industry’s growth in the region — can help Southwestern Pennsylvania attract investment. The region has similar initiatives for other sectors, such as the Pittsburgh Robotics Network and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Alliance, which have helped build the region’s dominance in these fields. The Robotics Network, for example, developed a dense geographic cluster that provides workspace, leverages public and philanthropic financial support, and plays the role of promoter and convener to connect and coordinate firms, investors, suppliers, and talent. Total investment in Pittsburgh’s robotics sector reached $4.3 billion in 2022.
The initiative could help the region overcome key constraints, like helping economic development stakeholders coordinate to proactively attract cleantech opportunities. It could also facilitate collaboration to identify gaps in the regional economic development and lab-to-market ecosystems and empower organizations in those ecosystems to address those gaps.
These are uncertain times for cleantech manufacturers, but demand for clean energy isn’t going away. Southwestern Pennsylvania’s strengths in innovation and manufacturing position it well to capture the cleantech opportunity. Economic revitalization is within reach if the region can coordinate and proactively prioritize opportunities to build cleantech clusters.
The authors wish to thank RMI’s Aaron Brickman for his contributions to this article.