Energy tech hub opens in Newport News

A Virginia Tech-backed energy initiative that launched last fall opened its first dedicated space in late April at Tech Center Research Park in Newport News, part of a broader effort to position Hampton Roads as a center for next-generation energy development.

The project, the Secure Energy Future Center (SEFC), has received about $2.7 million in initial funding, including a $1.2 million grant from GO Virginia and $1.5 million in matching funds from a mix of public and private partners.

The SEFC is housed in a newly built-out, roughly 2,500-square-foot suite on the third floor of an existing research park building. The space is designed as a hub for energy companies, researchers and government partners, offering meeting rooms, workforce training and short-term workspace for startups and small firms. Companies can also lease or build dedicated facilities within the research park. The center aims to support workforce development, innovation, energy education and testing.

Chelsea Olivieri, managing director of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center and SEFC, says the organization is working with partners such as the Dominion Energy Innovation Center and 757 Collab to design an energy-focused accelerator program, with a target launch in the fall, contingent on additional funding.

Olivieri says the center is designed to address gaps in the region’s energy industry, particularly as companies face growing challenges around energy availability and cost. She says businesses often lacked a single place to understand how the energy system works or to connect with partners to test and deploy new technologies.

Plans also include developing “test beds” — real-world sites where companies can pilot and validate energy technologies — on roughly 27 acres owned by the Newport News Economic Development Authority within the 100-acre research park.

Doug Smith, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Alliance, says energy has become a central factor in business attraction, particularly as demand rises due to data centers, artificial intelligence and industrial growth.

One of the center’s first active programs is a series of energy education courses aimed not just at students, but at local officials, planners and economic developers.

Smith says these courses will help decision-makers better understand complex energy systems as they face increasingly consequential land use and infrastructure decisions.

“I don’t mind if we disagree about a decision, as long as we’re all working from the same set of facts about whatever it is,” Smith says.