Feds Invest in Pittsburgh for Next Gen Battery Technology

Eos Energy, a company developing zinc batteries at a Pittsburgh-area plant, has received a $396 million loan from the federal government to further develop its energy storage technology.

The loan will lead to 700 additional jobs at the company’s plant in Turtle Creek in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley, once home to giants like Westinghouse Electric. Eos currently employs 300 workers at a former Westinghouse Electric facility there.

The U.S. Department of Energy loan funds 80 percent of the $500 million Eos expansion project. Such loans were included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which vastly increased federal investment in renewable energy.

Pittsburgh on energy frontier

The grant underscores not only the need for new energy storage technology – in this case, zinc batteries, which are cheaper than commonly used lithium ion batteries – but also the Pittsburgh region’s role in developing that energy, economic development officials say.

The city has been at the center of technology for self-driving vehicles and, over the past 15 years, the region has seen a natural gas boom.

“Eos is a great example of what’s possible in the next frontier. It’s inventing the future of manufacturing with clean energy and long duration battery storage,” said Matt Smith, chief growth officer at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, a nonprofit that promotes economic development in 10 Western Pennsylvania counties.

Battery storage technologies are essential to speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable e