LEETSDALE, PA—Pittsburgh-based steel fabricator BCI Steel CO. and solar-tracker manufacturer Nextracker will hold a dedication ceremony next week to reopen the historic Bethlehem steel factory, which is being repurposed to make tracker equipment for large solar power plants. 

Event participants will include Dan Shugar, CEO and founder of Nextracker; Matt Carroll, CEO and founder of BCI Steel Co.; Ann Davies, Group COO at Lightsource BP; Sandhya Ganapathy CEO at EDPR North America; Ken Jaycox, senior VP and chief commercial officer at United States Steel Corp.; and various state and federal officials.

In a statement, Nextracker says its investment in the factory will help the company meet growing demand for utility-scale solar power in the Mid-Atlantic and Heartland regions. It will also increase the resilience of the U.S. solar supply chain and bring manufacturing jobs, equipment, and capacity back to America.

Nextracker makes integrated solar tracker and software products used in utility-scale and ground-mounted distributed generation solar projects around the world. Its panels in power plants follow the sun’s movement across the sky and optimize plant performance for significant ROI.

Headquartered in Leetsdale, BCI Steel is a global engineering, contract manufacturing and supply chain management company specializing in the production of industrial metal products for OEMs. Besides steel fabrication, the company focuses on new product development, design for manufacturing, quality control, and logistics.