This story was reported and written by WHRO media partner Williamsburg Watch.
An Omaha, Nebraska-based company wants to build a massive battery storage facility on part of the old BASF site in southern James City County, a project it says will inject more than $1 billion into the local economy during construction.
The facility would generate $90 million in taxes for the county over 25 years, according to the special use permit application submitted by Pelican Energy Storage, LLC. The abandoned property currently generates under $30,000 a year in taxes, according to county records.
But county planners warned the developers that residents of the Grove community may be concerned about potential disruption during the two-year construction period. Pelican responded it would plan an outreach program to answer residents’ questions.
After construction, there would be minimal traffic to and from the site, about five to 15 weekly trips. Construction should take two years and be finished in 2030, Pelican stated. It would generate about 100 construction jobs and 178 additional indirect jobs, according to the company.
On May 29, Pelican filed a request for a special use permit to build the facility on roughly 220 acres of land, which is crossed by the high-energy Dominion Power Skiffes Creek power line. The facility would store electricity during off-peak hours at night and release it back into the power grid during peak demand times in the day.
The 650-megawatt battery complex has no air emissions and does not require water to operate, according to the company.
Such projects can increase the electric grid’s reliability and prevent brownouts at critical times, according to statements by Pelican’s parent firm, privately-owned Tenaska Energy Inc., also based in Omaha.
The project site is part of 627 acres fronting the James River that have been dormant for more than 25 years.
BASF, a West German company, bought the property in 1978 from Dow Chemical, which had been producing acrylic fibers for 20 years there. The company deposited fibers used in chairs, drapes and carpet in trenches, leading to soil and groundwater contamination from the chemicals used in the process.
BASF reached an agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to mitigate landfill pollution and prevent chemicals from leaching into the groundwater.
The agreement limited the use of much of the property for other development, which is why county staff said they believed the battery storage project would be an appropriate use.
James City County planning staff said in a response to the applicant that the proposed facility was a good fit for the land because of the high energy transmission line running through it.
The land’s environmental contamination limits its development potential, staff said, and “this particular use would minimally disturb the site and put it to productive use.”
The site is surrounded by forest and forested wetlands that will screen it from residents, Pelican said. Carter's Grove Plantation is a quarter mile beyond the screen, and the closest residential neighbor is two-thirds of a mile from the project site, according to the developer’s application.
