A large proposed battery storage project could be a big boost for James City County tax revenue.
But for several residents of the nearby Grove neighborhood, the development feels like another instance of industrial interests taking priority.
“It’s like we don’t have anyone to go to bat for us,” said Sheree Beauford.
Pelican Energy Storage, a subsidiary of Tenaska Energy, wants to build a 650 megawatt battery energy storage system, or BESS, at the former site of the BASF acrylic fiber plant, which was discussed as a possible location for a data center.
BESS facilities store power in lithium-ion batteries that is pushed into the grid during periods of high demand. Jamie Wagner, Tenaska community relations manager, said that’s needed as energy demand is surging in the commonwealth. Much of the demand is being driven by data center development.
Power demand is why PJM Interconnection, the regional organization managing electricity markets in 13 states including Virginia, identified Tenaska’s facility as a project to move forward. A second 600 MW development in James City County is also on PJM’s list, with both intended to be in service by 2029. PJM representatives said the second project was withdrawn, though possibly could be resubmitted sometime in 2027. County planners said an application for a second facility is not currently under review.
The Nebraska company has submitted a permit application and hopes to have the project before the Board of Supervisors by November. The project is expected to generate about $90 million in tax dollars over 25 years and 100 jobs during construction. Once in operation, the facility is likely to have one or two workers on site.
“We like to say that it brings in the economic boon to a community, but it doesn’t bring in the extra traffic,” Wagner said.
Beauford reached out to several neighbors after learning about the proposal on Tuesday. She said many aren’t happy with the idea.
“It’s always something for somebody else in our backyard,” Beauford said.
Grove is a working-class community that grew significantly in the 1900s when Black residents were displaced with the creation of military installations in York and James City counties.
It has since faced over-industrialization, some advocates say, and the piecemeal loss of river access since the 1950s because of development and land acquisition. Dow Chemicals, BASF’s predecessor, came in 1958. Log Cabin Beach, once a thriving riverfront area for Black people during segregation, became a sewage treatment plant in 1971. The last portion of publicly accessible waterfront in the area was lost in the 1990s when Colonial Williamsburg sold Carter’s Grove.
“A lot of these people who live in this community remember being baptized in the James River; now they can’t even go to where they were baptized,” said Ryan Bonney, a 16-year resident who moved to the community to raise his daughter.
Bonney and Beauford are part of Grove Connections, which organizes social gatherings and advocates for community interests. Bonney and others had held out hope the land could be repurposed into a recreational area and provide river access, an idea the county rejected in 2015 in part because of opposition from nearby Fort Eustis and contamination because of its former industrial use. The site, more than half a mile from the nearest home, has undergone significant cleanup and is under a Virginia Department of Environmental Quality long term stewardship plan.
“It is unfortunately expected,” Bonney said.
Tenaska’s plans, while still fluid, include buying land up to the riverbank. Wagner said the company is aware of community concerns and is planning meetings with residents in September.
“They haven’t always been listened to or heard,” she said. “Maybe Tenaska can’t help them as far as this particular parcel and riverfront access, but maybe there’s some other things we can do.”
Wagner said the company is also working with the county on a safety plan. BESS facilities are often scrutinized, especially in the fallout of a 2025 fire at the Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility near Monterey, California. One of the largest fires of its kind, about 1,500 people had to temporarily leave their homes because of the toxicity.
Wagner, however, said that facility was unique. Moss Landing was built inside a warehouse-style structure, while modern BESS facilities look more like a collection of outdoor storage containers and can better isolate and contain problems. And from 2018 to 2025, the rate of BESS fires and explosions has decreased by 99% as technology improved and development increased, according to data from the Electric Power Research Institute.
“It’s incredible how far down it’s decreased,” Wagner said. “But you still prepare for that worst-case scenario.”
