The Southwest Virginia Energy Research Park will be a first-of-its-kind energy lab operation in the United States and will host companies interested in studying, perfecting and eventually commercializing their ideas. Simply put, the lab will provide land and scientific assistance to innovators in the energy industry. It will also be a facility that allows middle and high school students in Southwest Virginia to see STEM-related energy projects in action.
Southwest Virginia has a legacy of driving energy production and manufacturing with its key role in the extractive economy. Metallurgical coal helped build America, while wells drilled over 60 years ago still produce natural gas today. As the United States moves toward carbon-neutral energy and our traditional industries decline as a result, Southwest Virginia has the opportunity to continue to be a leader in energy. The Southwest Virginia Energy Park, the subject of Project Innovation, will sustain the region’s leadership position while focusing on renewable, clean and zero-carbon projects. Our goal is for the region to be the energy innovation capital of the East Coast.
For Project Innovation, we researched two broad areas, the first of which will be location vetting for park activities. There are over 100,000 acres of reclaimed surface mined properties in Southwest Virginia plus adjacent underground mines. We drew on years of area knowledge and will hire consultants to validate sites. This vetting process is unlike traditional site development work — it requires significant expertise in energy technologies and how we can leverage the region’s geography and topography.
Secondly, we researched and designed the managing entity’s governance while also developing a plan for start-up and long-term sustainability.
These two activities have set the stage for the region to move forward into the development and ultimately implementation of this lab that will provide assistance in commercialization to the private sector, a key value-add that will encourage investment in and attract new industries and jobs to Southwest Virginia.
A private entity will secure private dollars and grant funds, manage the site or sites including the public and education components, market the opportunity to energy companies and entrepreneurs, and ultimately develop projects like Project Energizer, Project Revolution and Project Oasis.
The energy lab will focus on four key areas of research: Electricity Generation, Geoenergy, Going Digital and the Circular Economy:
Electricity Generation research will be focused on renewables, storage technology, carbon capture and high efficiency, low emission technology;
Geoenergy means any energy that would come from the earth, such as geothermal or eco-friendly coal or natural gas energy production;
Going Digital research will focus on strategies to make our energy delivery systems and facilities more efficient; and
Circular Economy research will evaluate options for end-of-life strategies for renewable generation components and the remains of the fossil fuel industry.
The lab will likely distinguish itself from the traditional university-based research model in four ways:
The lab will be a facility that highlights energy research and development while allowing middle and high school students in Southwest Virginia to be engaged in that work via STEM-related energy projects;
The lab will serve as a demonstration facility for large research projects, including offering private companies and researchers the opportunity to conduct field testing as opposed to just bench scale testing;
There will be an opportunity to demonstrate to the public how technologies work and what energy innovation research and development activities are underway; and
The lab will create a space for social engagement that is rooted in the region’s heritage as well as the cutting-edge technology being developed in Southwest Virginia.
The projects we are spearheading now are aimed at building credibility as will be competing nationwide for entrepreneurs as well as grant and foundation dollars:
First, Project Revolution involves developing a filtration system that could efficiently remove pollutants from the emissions of coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources, then package the filtered-out materials for recycling.
Second, Project Energizer lays the foundation for a base load, renewable energy solution for high-tech and industrial operations, especially when coupled with other renewable power sources like wind and solar. The technology involves pumped-storage hydro, the only available proven, long-term power storage technology that has the potential to deliver base load renewable power. This project employs the pumped-storage hydro technology on a small, affordable scale and provides an opportunity for Southwest Virginia to leverage its topography and be an innovator in renewable resources.
Finally, Project Oasis seeks third-party validation for Southwest Virginia to become the location of choice in the Commonwealth for data centers based on power and broadband infrastructure as well as the use of innovative energy applications unique to our region. In this case, we are studying the use of 52-degree mine pool water for HVAC cooling as a significant cost and energy-saving tool.
With each of these technologies, our team can help change the world, and we’ll do that with Southwest Virginia ingenuity.
In August 2020, Coalfield Strategies was awarded the contract to perform operations planning, while an additional team was selected to focus on location vetting for the primary and possible satellite locations, including HDR, Marshall Miller & Associates and Thompson & Litton. The teams kicked off their respective tasks in September 2020 and completed their work by October 2021. Click HERE for the final report.