Nucor Corp. recently announced plans to build two new state-of-the-art tower production plants as it expands its recently established Nucor Towers & Structures business unit. It is evaluating locations in the Midwest and the Southeast.
“As our nation continues to replace its aging electric grid, extend transmission infrastructure to connect renewable generation locations and modernize its digital network, we see tremendous growth potential in the need to build this critical infrastructure using some of the cleanest, most sustainable steel in the world,” said Leon Topalian, chairman, president and CEO of Nucor Corp. “The growth of Nucor Towers & Structures is further execution of our strategy.”
Earlier this year, Nucor formed the Nucor Towers & Structures business unit when it acquired Summit Utility Structures, a producer of metal poles and steel structures for utility infrastructure in eastern Pennsylvania.
While that location primarily serves customers in the northeastern part of the country, Nucor will establish a nationwide footprint with these two new facilities. The growing demand for utility infrastructure is being driven by grid hardening and replacements, renewable energy projects and population growth. Additional demand for utility infrastructure will result from the Inflation Reduction Act, recently passed by Congress, which provides more than $300 billion for clean energy and climate programs.
The two new greenfield transmission tower production plants will be extensively automated and will include advanced hot-dip galvanizing operations. Each facility will utilize highly efficient straight-line production and will increase Nucor Towers & Structures’ capabilities to provide engineered solutions for utility infrastructure and construction projects.
The locations for these two new facilities will be determined in the next few months.
The announcement came on the heels of the Nucor board of directors’ announcement of the increase of its regular quarterly cash dividend on the company’s common stock to 51 cents per share. The dividend is Nucor’s 199th consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Nucor has increased its regular, or base, dividend for 50 consecutive years.
