Form Energy selected Weirton in December 2022. Commercial production was confirmed in February 2026. The selection-stage package — 55 acres of former Weirton Steel land, Ohio River and rail access, a $290 million state commitment — closed the deal. Everything that followed was a second project with different capital sources and different risk.
Construction ran 16 months. The WVDEP air permit application was filed before equipment specs were finalized. Hancock County's PILOT was approved 14 months after selection, during construction. The city's water treatment expansion from 4 MGD to 8 MGD ran in parallel with no public Form-specific allocation on record.
Form targeted commercial production by end of 2024. It arrived roughly a year late. The bridge was a $150 million DOE grant executed in December 2024, funding a production line, workforce training partnerships with WV Northern Community College and JD Rockefeller Career Center, and ramp to serial output. That federal money entered after the factory was built — a post-selection instrument, secured on a post-selection timeline, addressing constraints that did not exist at the moment of site selection.
Dec 2022: Site selected from 500+ candidates across 16 states
May 2023: Groundbreaking; 550,000-sq-ft factory
Oct 2023: Air permit application filed; equipment specs still incomplete
Feb 2024: PILOT approved — $40K/yr initial, employment-conditioned; Cleveland-Cliffs idles adjacent mill, freeing ~900 workers
Sep 2024: Construction complete; trial production begins, ~250 employees; DOE selects Form for $150M RAPID grant
Oct 2024: Expansion construction starts (300,000 sq ft) during trial production
Feb 2025: Restructuring at 350+ employees; serial production not yet begun
2025: Commercial production launches
Feb 2026: City confirms commercial production; employment ~400+
Aug 2026: $750M Series G raised; backlog at 80 GWh; 90+ open positions posted
Post-selection capital not in original package: $150M DOE RAPID grant, PILOT (approved 14 months post-selection), water treatment expansion (4 MGD to 8 MGD, no public Form-specific allocation)