A Danish chemicals firm’s more than $400 million investment in a new Chesterfield County plant will bring Virginia into the business of making hydrogen as a clean energy source.
The Topsøe Holding A/S plant will make a new kind of hydrogen fuel cell, one that the company says can generate clean energy for fossil-fuel users like steel mills and shipping companies that cannot simply electrify operations and that generate nearly a third of the world’s greenhouse gases.
Topsøe detailed plans for the plant, which will employ 150, at a news conference at its Denmark headquarters with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who was in the country Wednesday as part of a four-nation trade mission.
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“Their decision to build a cutting-edge factory, the next generation of manufacturing, to build in Chesterfield County and invest more than $400 million — that’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of money,” Youngkin said.
“This new state of the art facility will be the key, the key to scaling, clean, hydrogen production,” he said.
Youngkin has said developing hydrogen technology is an element of what he describes as his “All American, All of the Above” energy plan for the state. Environmental groups have criticized his approach as continuing to see a role for natural gas, which emits climate-changing carbon when burned.
“The electrification of so many parts of our society demands more power, and as a result it’s this idea that we can, yes, embrace today all of the above,” Youngkin said at the Danish event.
“In Virginia, we do it all. We know it all. We have the largest offshore wind development in North America. We have many solar developments — as you drive around you will see.
“We have clean burning natural gas. And we fully understand that we must innovate and we are committed to carbon capture and the next generation of nuclear power and the opportunities that seem unlimited with hydrogen,” he said.
The largest manufacturer
Jakob Haldor Topsøe, chairman Topsøe Holding A/S, said the Chesterfield plant will be the largest manufacturer of solid oxide electrolyzer cells in the world.
These are fuel cells that generate hydrogen gas by pushing electricity through solid oxide or ceramic compounds.
Hydrogen, in turn, can be used instead of natural gas to generate heat or spin the turbines that power electric generators and ships, or even pump pistons up and down in a vehicle motor.
“Our vision is becoming the leader in decarbonization technologies, globally,” Topsøe said.
The company says its cells are 30% more efficient than other hydrogen fuel cells – that is, that they generate 30% more hydrogen from a given amount of electricity, said Kim Hedegaard, chief executive of Topsøe’s Power-to-X unit.
Tax credits support the project
The new plant will be built in Chesterfield’s Meadowville Technology Park, which is where Lego is building its first U.S. plant, a $1 billion project.
Some $136 million tax credits through the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C) program are supporting the Topsøe project.
The credits are set aside for communities affected by shifts away from coal, as with the now-shuttered Dominion Energy plant in Chesterfield.
The credits are authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, and Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-4th, worked to secure them for the project.
In addition, Youngkin approved a $6 million grant from the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund to support the project.
Topsøe is eligible for benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone Grant Program and from the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, which helps with hiring and training staff for new and expanding businesses.
Topsøe also plans to launch the “Topsøe STEM Scholarship” program, which will award five $10,000 one-year scholarships to high school seniors from Chesterfield County high schools.
It will award the scholarships to seniors seeking to continue their education in a STEM major in college, with the first in the spring of 2025.