Clean energy development could draw $8.5B in investments

Wise County and neighboring localities may become home to a massive clean energy development that could attract up to $8.25 billion in capital investments, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Nov. 1.

An agreement between Wise County, the Energy DELTA Lab and Dallas-based Fortune 100 energy company Energy Transfer aims to develop 65,000 acres of former coal mining property into a hub for generating power from a variety of sources — including wind, solar, pumped storage hydropower, nuclear, natural gas and hydrogen — as well as energy storage. That “all-of-the-above” approach is in alignment with the Youngkin-backed Virginia Energy Plan, which aims to fulfill the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s renewable power mandates through a mix of energy sources beyond wind and solar.

The 2022 Virginia Energy Plan launched the nonprofit Energy DELTA Lab, which will be the primary developer of the Southwest project. More than a dozen projects are under consideration — they total $8.25 billion in potential private capital investment, according to the governor’s office, and could create 1,650 jobs and generate nearly 1 gigawatt of power.

Energy Transfer owns the 65,000 acres, which is primarily in Wise County, while Penn Virginia Operating Co. manages the land. Neighboring Lee, Scott and Dickenson counties and the city of Norton also could see related development, as the DELTA Lab conducts due diligence on several projects.

“The commonwealth’s power demand is skyrocketing, and now is the time to make strategic investments in energy infrastructure to meet our growing needs,” Youngkin said in a statement. “This agreement will make Virginia energy more reliable, affordable and clean while transforming Southwest Virginia into a
hub for innovation.”

The DELTA Lab is developing three industrial sites in Wise County, including on land owned by Energy Transfer:

• The Nature Conservancy and Sun Tribe Solar are locating a solar farm on the 300-acre “Meade Fork” site near Pound;
• A mixed-use development project, including an industrial clean energy component, will be built on the 2,000-acre “Junction” site near Appalachia;
• The team will convert a 400-acre prev-iously mined property into a 1-gigawatt, multitenant data center campus on the 4,000-acre “Bullitt” site on the border with Lee County, which can hold multiple industrial projects with adjacent energy sites to power on-site demand.

“This is opening up land that otherwise would not be developed,” said Will Payne, managing partner of Coalfield Strategies and director of InvestSWVA.

A longer version of this story ran online on Nov. 1.