Piney Flat, Tennessee-based Microporous says it will invest $1.3 billion in a lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant at a southern Virginia megasite near the North Carolina border and Rockingham County.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and company officials announced the project in the Berry Hill area of Pittsylvania County today. It is expected to create 2,015 jobs. North Carolina was vying for the project, Virginia Business magazine reported.
Privately held Microporous makes separators for lead-acid batteries, the oldest rechargeable battery technology. But the company plans to expand into lithium-ion batteries, which are used in electric vehicles, energy storage systems and other applications.
“We were once known as the world’s largest tobacco market and home of Dan River Mills, or Dan River Fabrics. Many of us vividly remember those tobacco fields, but moving forward, we will be known nationwide, if not worldwide, for advanced manufacturing technology,” Vic Ingram, chairman of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Authority, said at a groundbreaking ceremony.
Microporous will develop two 500,000-square-foot phases at the 3,500-acre megasite, which is jointly owned by Danville and Pittsylvania County.
The Virginia Tobacco Commission has invested more than $60 million since 2008 on the megasite, Virginia Business reported. Last year, it lost a $3.5 billion Ford Motor electric vehicle battery factory when Youngkin pulled the state out of the running because of national security concerns over a Chinese company that was expected to be part of the operation.
A Virginia legislative commission has approved a special appropriation for as much as $60.6 million for the project, based on pledges for $1.3 billion of investment and creation of more than 2,000 jobs. It requires further approval by state lawmakers.
Earlier this year, Microporous was awarded a $100 million dollar grant from the Department of Energy to establish a lithium-ion battery separator manufacturing plant. It’s part of the federal effort to boost the North American electric vehicle market.
Trent Capital, a Naples, Florida-based private equity group, bought full control of Microporous in February.