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A plan to transform up to 65,000 acres of coal-mined properties in Southwest Virginia should help Virginia achieve more energy security and increase reliability.
A public-private land development agreement was announced today. Under the agreement, Energy DELTA Lab, Wise County officials and landowner Energy Transfer, will serve as the primary developer partnering with energy companies and electric utilities to deploy a diverse range of conventional and innovative energy technologies on reclaimed coal mine lands as part of a regional economic development campaign.
Energy Transfer’s land position, which is managed by Penn Virginia Operating Company, is primarily located in Wise County and includes ownership of both surface and subsurface rights.
“The Commonwealth’s power demand is skyrocketing, and now is the time to make strategic investments in energy infrastructure to meet our growing needs,” said Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This agreement will make Virginia energy more reliable, affordable and clean while transforming Southwest Virginia into a hub for innovation.”
The team’s strategy involves leveraging Southwest Virginia’s topography and its legacy energy industry assets – land, power and water – to develop energy projects at scale with the primary goal of creating new jobs and local tax revenues. It should also create career pathways for the region’s workforce and new manufacturing opportunities.
The DELTA Lab’s project portfolio represents the spectrum of technologies and related industrial operations, including solar, wind, hydrogen, energy storage, pumped-storage hydro, energy efficient data centers and other emerging technologies.
“Large portions of Wise County have often been difficult to develop given limited access due to private and federal ownership,” said Mike Hatfield, Wise County administrator. “This agreement will create game-changing opportunities that simply did not exist before.”
More than a dozen projects under consideration represent in excess of $8.25 billion in potential private capital investment, 1,650 new high-paying jobs and nearly 1 gigawatt of new power generation and demand. In addition, the DELTA Lab has led federal grant applications in 2023 for nearly $600 million that would support its project portfolio.
“We have worked tirelessly for years to bring economic diversity to Southwest Virginia and were glad to secure funding for both Energy DELTA Lab and abandoned mine reclamation in last year’s government funding bill,” said U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. “We are excited that this agreement between Energy Transfer and Energy DELTA Lab will pave the way for new energy developments on repurposed mined lands, serving as a market-driven solution to ensure Virginia’s energy security.”
Read more about Energy DELTA Lab’s mission at www.energydeltalab.org/
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Crystal Graham
