New Kensington's Re:Build to boost U.S. production capacity for renewable hydrogen

A new partnership at New Kensington’s Advanced Manufacturing Park will put the city in the heart of the country’s growing hydrogen economy, area business leaders say.

New York-based Ecolectro, a hydrogen production manufacturer, announced last week it has partnered with Re:Build Manufacturing to build next-generation electrolyzers.

Ecolectro Chief Commercial Officer Jon Gordon said his company chose to partner with Re:Build because of its capabilities in scaling manufacturing and New Kensington being “well positioned” to support their expansion.

“The region offers a highly skilled manufacturing workforce, proximity to top universities like the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon and access to steel, which is a key component of our electrolyzer stacks,” Gordon said.

Re:Build will assemble Ecolectro’s electrolyzers, which, according to Ecolectro, will enable cost reductions for hydrogen production.

Hydrogen is necessary for industries such as refining, chemical production, transportation, heavy equipment and other industrial uses.

“High-tech manufacturing is the backbone of tomorrow’s economy, and it’s critical that we develop robust domestic capabilities to support the next generation of hardtech innovations,” Miles Arnone, CEO of Re:Build, said in a statement.

“This collaboration with Ecolectro underscores the importance of building U.S. production capacity for groundbreaking solutions like renewable hydrogen, which will play a key role in shaping the clean energy future.”

Re:Build will handle the early work at its site in Rochester, N.Y., where the first units will be produced, Gordon said. That includes building the “balance of plant,” while Ecolectro will manufacture the stacks in Ithaca, N.Y.

“A loose analogy would be that the ‘car’ will be made by Re:Build and the ‘engine’ will be made by us,” Gordon said.

Once Re:Build is ready to scale up manufacturing — meaning producing units on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis — it will shift operations from Rochester to New Kensington, where it will build an assembly line to meet demand, Gordon said.

“The size of this line and the number of jobs it creates will depend on our commercial traction, but with strong customer interest, we hope to begin manufacturing in New Kensington next year, employing a significant number of skilled workers from the region,” he said.

According to Ecolectro, the company’s “anion exchange membrane” electrolyzers don’t use metals like iridium, therefore lowering production costs. By producing hydrogen on-site, these systems reduce transportation and storage costs, the company said.

For example, Ecolectro used this model with Liberty New York Gas, where a 10-kilowatt system delivered hydrogen at less than $2.50 per kilogram — up to 80% lower than the cost of delivered hydrogen, according to the company.

“This partnership with Re:Build accelerates manufacturing, helping us deploy our electrolyzers at sites across the U.S. to make renewable hydrogen a scalable, cost-effective solution for industrial use, fueling stations and energy storage,” said Gabriel G. Rodriguez-Calero, CEO and co-founder of Ecolectro.

It will be a busy summer at the New Kensington Advanced Manufacturing Park, which for years sat stagnant after being home to Alcoa’s earliest production facility.

The park, which is owned by the Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp.and RIDC, last week was awarded a $7 million grant to renovate the warehouse closest to the New Kensington bridge.

That’s in addition to RIDC tearing down six other buildings there and renovating a few others this summer.

WCIDC Executive Director Jason Rigone said the county is excited to see cutting-edge hydrogen technology built in New Kensington.

“This partnership creates hundreds of high-quality manufacturing jobs and strengthens American energy independence while also demonstrating that our manufacturing sector — which is thriving here in Westmoreland County — can compete with anyone,” Rigone said.