June 30, 2025 Energy Manufacturing Powering Pennsylvania

Volume 28 | Issue 2

Mitsubishi’s Electric products division recently broke ground on an $86m expansion further proving Pennsylvania’s momentum in manufacturing.

By Secretary Rick Siger, Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Click here to read the complete illustrated article or continue below to read the text article.

Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of every energy transition through modern industrial history – from wood fuel production, to coal, to the natural gas that powers so much of today’s residential, commercial, and industrial needs. It’s part of the Commonwealth’s DNA. And as the world shifts into a new energy paradigm, where traditional fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and innovative renewables are converging to meet rapidly escalating energy demands, Pennsylvania is once again leading the way forward.

MEPPI Expanding in Advanced Energy Manufacturing

Companies are taking notice, too. In March 2025, Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc. – or MEPPI – broke ground on a new facility in New Galilee, about 40 miles north of Pittsburgh on the western side of the state. The facility will manufacture advanced switchgears and power electronics, and a state-of-the-art testing lab will allow MEPPI to transition from the production of gas-insulated circuit breakers to vacuum breakers. The switchgear and power electronics solutions that the company provides are essential for meeting the growing demand for electricity while still achieving renewable energy and decarbonization goals.

Tricia Breeger, president and CEO of MEPPI, described the expansion as “investing in a state-of-the-art switchgear factory [that] will serve our customers, and significantly advance the production of critical components that strengthen both distribution and transmission grids while driving new technologies forward in support of the nation’s decarbonization initiatives. Our switchgear and power electronics solutions are essential for meeting the growing demand for electricity, from powering homes and businesses to supporting the rapid expansion of data centers.”

MEPPI plans to invest roughly $86 million into the project, which is expected to create more than 200 new jobs in Southwest Pennsylvania while supporting the retention of more than 800 employees across the Commonwealth. The project was originally announced in October 2024 by Governor Josh Shapiro, who has brought his “get stuff done” renewed energy to economic development and competitiveness to the Keystone State, which is why we’re making bold investments to support projects like MEPPI’s. The Commonwealth invested $6.7 million in this expansion, along with the dedicated technical support of the Governor’s BusinessPA team, which is dedicated to helping businesses relocate to and grow in Pennsylvania.

The project came into fruition, in part, due to an aggressive new business attraction approach ushered in under Governor Shapiro. A delegation from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development traveled to Japan last year to meet with parent company Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO) and discuss this project being located in Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth’s continued support and competitive advantages thanks to its strategic location, workforce, and business climate, helped secure this project within Pennsylvania.

Hitachi’s Growth Continues the Momentum

MEPPI isn’t the only recent energy manufacturing project secured by the Shapiro Administration in Pennsylvania. In April 2025, Governor Shapiro announced the expansion of Hitachi Energy in Westmoreland County, also in the western part of the state – part of a broader $70 million expansion by Hitachi into its Pennsylvania facilities. The investment will transform an existing facility in the borough of Mount Pleasant into a state-of the-art high voltage products manufacturing operation that will increase production capacity substantially. The project includes renovations, production line expansion and upgrades, and a new training center.

“Our investments in Westmoreland County highlight our commitment to Pennsylvania as the heart of our High Voltage Business in North America,” said Luca Calamari, Head of Hitachi Energy’s High Voltage Business Unit in North America. “We welcome the support of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as we expand our presence to better address fast-growing energy demand in the region.”

Pennsylvania’s Economic Development Strategy

Like MEPPI, Hitachi was supported by BusinessPA with a $184,000 incentive grant and a $145,000 grant for worker training. The Commonwealth’s support derives from its 10-Year Economic Development Strategy – the first of its kind in Pennsylvania in nearly two decades – that establishes clear focus industries in which the Commonwealth has a competitive advantage. By doubling down on supporting the five important industries of agriculture, energy, life sciences, manufacturing, and robotics and technology – the Shapiro Administration is building strength on strength. Business projects like MEPPI and Hitachi fit squarely into the economic development strategy because they lie within the overlap of two of the five key focus industries: energy and manufacturing.

In addition to the identification of key industries, the strategy also lays out five main goals: investing in economic growth to strengthen Pennsylvania’s competitive position, making government work at the speed of business, opening doors of opportunity for all Pennsylvanians, innovating to win, and building vibrant and resilient regions. Since the strategy’s initial release in 2024, the Shapiro Administration worked hard throughout the year to implement its various blueprints for action.

For example, the strategy called for a significant increase in funding for pad-ready site development. Governor Shapiro worked with a divided legislature to secure a transformational influx of $500 million for site development, including $400 million for the PA SITES program, a successful pilot program from the previous year designed to grow the Commonwealth’s inventory of pad-ready sites. PA SITES helps bring sites to market faster by funding better transportation access, utility connections, and other site preparation activities. In doing so, the program is enabling Pennsylvania to compete for even more medium and large-scale economic development projects while also supporting the growth of existing Pennsylvania businesses. Speed to market is one of the most critical considerations for business expansion and location decisions – and PA SITES is helping ensure that more sites are ready to go for businesses that are looking to act quickly.

The PA Permit Fast Track Program

Accelerating speed to market is also about being efficient and effective at processing environmental and business permits for project development. In November 2024, Governor Shapiro launched the PA Permit Fast Track Program to speed up government, drive economic growth, and make Pennsylvania more competitive. The first project-based permitting fast track program in the country is designed specifically for complex and impactful economic development and infrastructure projects. It operates under three key principles: enhancing project coordination, supporting critical projects, and creating transparency.

Through the PA Permit Fast Track program, Pennsylvania’s Office of Transformation and Opportunity (OTO) develops, manages, and coordinates permitting for these projects across government agencies and private partners to get answers in a timely manner. The office also works closely with project sponsors and oversees updates to the Fast Track dashboard, a publicly accessible online tool designed to ensure accountability for both state agencies and project sponsors.

The PA Permit Fast Track program is already working for projects in different regions of the Commonwealth – including the Bellwether District, a 1,300-acre logistics and innovation campus on the former site of the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery on the Schuylkill River. This massive development requires substantial remediation work and is projected to create 19,000 direct permanent jobs – exactly the kind of high-impact project that the PA Permit Fast Track program was intended to support, and will rapidly accelerate the development of the site. As Roberto Perez, CEO of HRP Group, developer for the Bellwether District, says, “transforming a site of this scale and creating thousands of new jobs requires business, government, labor, and institutions to work together — along with a little imagination and a lot of grit. I firmly believe that together, we will show that in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we can innovate and accomplish big things.”

Through the $500 million site development investment and the creation of the PA Permit Fast Track program, Pennsylvania is planting a flag and showing the national and international community that it is open for business. And the renewed energy for economic development in the Commonwealth has built an incredible momentum that has successfully landed major business expansion projects like MEPPI and Hitachi.

Competitiveness into the Future

Governor Shapiro is focused on continuing this momentum. His latest budget proposal focuses on competitiveness and includes a new $10 million job creation tax credit to attract businesses, as well as a $5 million increase for the Commonwealth’s most flexible incentive grant program called PAFirst. The Governor is also calling for an accelerated reduction of Pennsylvania’s corporate net income tax to 4.99 percent, currently slated to reach that level in 2031. And to foster the economy of the future, the budget proposal also includes a $50 million investment into life sciences and technology and several new investments and programs to help grow Pennsylvania’s housing stock. These new initiatives will make Pennsylvania an even more attractive place for businesses across the country and world to expand.

The Commonwealth’s new aggressive approach to economic development is paying dividends in Pennsylvania’s energy manufacturing sector and beyond. With this kind of momentum and effectiveness, more announcements about business expansions will be coming in faster than ever – and projects like MEPPI and Hitachi are just the tip of the iceberg.

More information and contact information for the BusinessPA team can be found at PAGetsItDone.com.

About the Author:
Rick Siger leads the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED), driving innovation, business growth, and competitiveness across the Commonwealth. In 2024, he and Governor Josh Shapiro launched Pennsylvania’s Ten-Year Economic Development Strategy, the state’s first long-term economic plan in nearly two decades. Under his leadership, DCED has rolled out major initiatives like PA SITES, which expands Pennsylvania’s inventory of shovel-ready sites, and Main Street Matters, an investment in downtowns and main streets. He has also worked to strengthen partnerships between state and local governments and the private sector, with collaborative efforts like the revitalization of downtown Pittsburgh securing nearly $600 million in public and private investment. Since 2023, the Shapiro Administration has attracted over $3.7 billion in private-sector investment and helped create more than 5,000 family-sustaining jobs across the state. Previously, Rick served as Chief of Staff at Carnegie Mellon University and spent over seven years serving President Obama, holding senior roles at the White House and U.S. Department of Commerce. A Pittsburgh native, he holds a B.A. in Political Science from Columbia University.

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