Exclusive – T1 Energy CEO Dan Barcelo: ‘America Has to Learn How to Build Again’ to Compete with China

T1 Energy CEO Dan Barcelo said during Breitbart News’s “Harnessing American Power” policy event that America “needs to learn how to build again” as it seeks to expand advanced manufacturing and energy production amid rising demand tied to artificial intelligence.

The event, which also featured Interior Secretary and Chairman of the National Energy Dominance Council Doug Burgum and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), focused on how America can meet the moment as it competes with China in the rapidly evolving AI and energy landscape.

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Serious challenges are ahead, Barcelo told Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, explaining steps the U.S. must take and T1 Energy’s critical role in the manufacturing boom.

Boyle noted that there is “a lot more manufacturing getting built in America,” including “different facilities” and “all sorts of different new, exciting things happening on the horizon.” He said T1 Energy was “no exception to this rule.”

“We’re building a 2.1-gigawatt solar cell factory north of Austin in Rockdale” in Texas, Barcelo said. “It’s at the site of an old Alcoa smelter. That’s a legacy place that used to employ lots of people and had lots of legacy power access to the grid. Now we have a new fab there that will employ over 1,200 people, have good, advanced manufacturing jobs.”

Barcelo said the United States has major advantages in operating costs for energy-intensive manufacturing, including access to electricity, water, and gas, but faces significant challenges when it comes to the cost and speed of building new projects.

“The building point also that Senator McCormick touched on, I think, is critical,” Barcelo said. “America needs to learn how to build again.”

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“When we think of the process, or the OpEx [operating expense] of our industry for solar, a lot of it is electricity, water, and gas, as America can be extraordinarily competitive on that OpEx,” he continued. “On the CapEx [capital expenditure] side, it struggles. Things may cost two to three times as much to build and take two to three times, at least, longer in terms of time.”

“All that time is money,” Barcelo added.

Barcelo said construction delays and higher capital costs make it harder for American manufacturers to compete globally.

“I think there has to be a very strong look at how we build,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we disregard clean air or clean water or environmental impacts on animals and species. We can do all of that, protect all of that, while simultaneously building.”

Barcelo pointed to the oil and gas industry as an example of a sector where waivers and grandfathered provisions have helped projects move faster.

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“For example, in the oil and gas industry, where I worked for a very long time, there were many, many waivers and grandfathered parts, from OSHA to EPA to National Fire Protection Act, to building codes, to wastewater,” Barcelo said. “All of those things apply and can accelerate. I think they contributed to the speed at which America can build oil and gas.”

Barcelo said America should apply some of that approach to factory construction, particularly on the National Fire Protection Act.

“I think America needs to transfer some of that, particularly National Fire Protection Act,” he said. “We don’t want our factories burning, but we understand some of these codes are just done the wrong way, and they create a lot of capital costs and time and permits. It just slows us down to build.”

“You’ve got to wonder why everyone else in the world can build so much faster, and their factories aren’t on fire, and ours, you know, are so slow,” Barcelo added. “So, we do have to think about how to build fast.”