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JW Aluminum to expand facilities, pursue renewable energy in Berkeley County
By Business Journal Staff
JW Aluminum, the specialty flat-rolled aluminum manufacturer, is expanding its operations in Berkeley County with a $5 million investment in a new plant adjacent to the county landfill.
But the announcement, made in conjunction with the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, isn’t just good economic news, company officials said.
It’s a move that is going to put JW Aluminum, recipient of the 2004 Sustainable Charleston Overall Achievement Award, and its home county at the forefront of the nation’s move toward renewable energy.
The new location, on U.S. Highway 52, will allow JW Aluminum to take the methane gas that is produced naturally by decaying refuse at the landfill and use it to power its smelting furnaces.
But the innovation doesn’t stop there. Berkeley County Supervisor Jim Rozier said the county plans to co-locate a facility to use residual heat from JW Aluminum’s furnaces to create steam that will be used to generate electric power, and to purify sludge from which to grow sod.
“At the same time, we’re also going to build a sewage plant at the site to collect the waste water from the two huge subdivisions that are going up in the area,” Rozier said.
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