Maryland Energy Administration grantee Marlin Steel helping make COVID-19 response supplies

Marlin Steel working making a test tube rack. Image from Fox 45 video

The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is proud to see our grantee, Marlin Steel switch their manufacturing to support medical device production to address the Coronavirus pandemic. Founded in 1968, Marlin Steel is a company that specializes in the creation of custom metal forms including stainless steel parts washing baskets, racks, S-hooks and sheet metal material handling containers.   Marlin Steel was contacted by medical device manufacturing company to produce test tube racks. These racks will be  used in laboratories testing for the Coronavirus. Read more here.

Completed Marlin Steel test tube rack. Image from Fox 45 video.

Marlin Steel was awarded both a Commercial Industrial and Agriculture (CI&A) grant and a matching Lawton Loan in fiscal year (FY) 2017.  The combined energy savings from both the loan and grant for Marlin Steel is approximately, 252,403 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year which is enough energy saved to power 12 Maryland homes. See details on the energy conservation measures (ECM) that Marlin Steel incorporated with the help of MEA programs below.

Marlin Steel used their C,I &A grant funds to pay for half of their energy saving projects in FY17 and a Lawton Loan to finance the remain half the of the projects.  Marlin Steel’s received a grant of $44,212 dollars via a CI&A grant which they used to incorporate ECMs for the following areas of their business: 1) lighting upgrade to retrofit approximately 176 existing fluorescent lighting units with LED retrofit kits which provided an estimated energy savings of 113,106 kilowatt hours (kWh); 2) air compressor upgrade to replace the existing dual-control air compressor with a 30 horse power variable speed controlled compressor which is estimated  to provide an annual energy savings of  22,663 kWh; 3) alternating current welding system upgrade existing AC welding system to medium frequency system which is estimated to bring an annual energy savings of  7,281 kWh.

Marlin Steel employee working at plant. Image from Marlin Steel.

The Lawton Loan funding amount was $44,212 which enabled an estimated energy savings of 109,353 kWh, an estimated annual cost savings of $13,887, and a simple payback of 5.23 years.

To learn more about the energy programs MEA offers for businesses, visit us online here.