Topsoe has purchased 57 acres in Meadowville Technology Park to serve as the site of an upcoming factory making solid oxide electrolyzer cells. (BizSense file)
A Danish manufacturer has locked down the site for the nine-figure factory it’s planning in Meadowville Technology Park.
Topsoe recently acquired 57 acres at 11700 Meadowville Lane and 1301 Meadowville Technology Parkway for about $5 million, according to online land records. There, the company plans to build a manufacturing facility that will produce electrolyzer cells for “clean hydrogen” fuel.
The company bought the property from the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority.
The acquisition gives Topsoe the land it needs to build a 280,000-square-foot, $400 million facility. A company spokesman said this week a construction timeline hadn’t been set for the project, but the plant is anticipated to take two years to build and would be built in a single phase of construction.
The facility itself is anticipated to cost $140 million, while its equipment is expected to cost $260 million, according to a Chesterfield staff memo.
The land deal was recorded with the county in late June. The parcels that make up the project site didn’t have an assessed value listed in online land records.
In its announcement of the project this spring, the Danish company called the upcoming Chesterfield facility its largest investment to date in the United States.
The factory is planned to produce solid oxide electrolyzer cells, which use electricity to generate what Topsoe calls “clean hydrogen” that is used as a fuel source. The cells to be manufactured at the plant are aimed at heavy-industry users such as chemical and cement makers and the transportation industry.
Topsoe is designing the Chesterfield facility with Swiss automation company ABB and Texas-based construction firm Fluor. A general contractor hasn’t been named yet.
Topsoe has previously said the plant is anticipated to create 150 jobs. The Chesterfield facility would be the company’s first location in the Richmond region. It has a manufacturing plant outside of Houston, Texas.
In recent months, Topsoe also entered into a performance grant agreement the county.
The agreement stipulates that Topsoe is eligible to receive a $2.1 million payment from Chesterfield, money that would be sourced from the proceeds of the land sale that recently closed, according to a county staff memo. Those funds are required as matching funds for a $6 million grant from the state’s Commonwealth Opportunity Fund.
The grant agreement also involves an annual payment from the county equal to the amount of machinery and tools taxes that Topsoe would pay for a six years after the project is completed, estimated to be $3.9 million.
Topsoe would be able to reap the benefits of the county grant if it completes its project by Dec. 31, 2029. The Board of Supervisors OK’d the grant agreement in May.
In addition to grant funding from the county, Topsoe expects to use $136 million in federal tax credits for the project and is eligible for state economic development assistance in addition to the Commonwealth Opportunity Fund allocation.
Topsoe’s plant is slated to rise in the northern end of Meadowville Technology Park on a site across the street from Lego’s upcoming $1 billion building-block manufacturing facility.
Great news for Chesterfield tax payers. This is a solid, tech-oriented enterprise with huge growth potential for the next 50 years, and will provide a much needed shift of the tax burden from residents to the business side. Not a huge shift, but something. We need 20 more projects, just like Topsoe!
With Lego and this new project traffic at Meadowville Technology Park will increase dramatically. Area residents will have to deal with it. That’s something that Henrico County has avoided at White Oak where data centers prevail. No tractor trailers, few, but highly paid employees, and hugh real estate tax payments. This will only get better when the LL distribution center is gone and the property converts to data centers.