SOUTH BOSTON, Va. – Southside Virginia is seeing another major economic investment, with Hitachi Energy breaking ground on a $457 million expansion at its South Boston facility expected to create 825 new jobs.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger joined company leaders and local officials for the groundbreaking, calling the project an important step in strengthening domestic energy infrastructure.
“By producing this equipment here in Virginia, we are helping secure domestic supply chains and ensure families across Virginia benefit from the soaring global demand for better energy infrastructure,” Spanberger said.
The expansion builds on Hitachi’s nearly 60-year presence in South Boston, where the company manufactures transformers that help move electricity from power plants to homes and businesses.
Transformers take high-voltage electricity and lower the voltage so it can safely be used by customers.
Hitachi Energy Senior Vice President for Transformers in North America Greg Callahan said the project will help the company meet growing demand for electricity infrastructure.
“This expansion will broaden our portfolio and help the ever-growing needs for electrification,” Callahan said.
The new facility will allow Hitachi to produce larger transformers, including some units that can reach the size of a two-story building. The company currently manufactures smaller transformers at the South Boston campus.
“What is coming out of this factory really, really helps power the lives of people in the United States and power the local economies,” said Anthony Allard, Hitachi Energy’s Region Head of Americas. “And that’s really essential what the team is doing here.”
The project is also expected to bring additional growth beyond the factory. As part of the expansion, 136 housing units are being built to support new employees on land donated by Halifax County.
Congressman John McGuire said the investment could create even more economic activity in the region.
“You’re going to need more cars and repair shops and more housing,” McGuire said. “You’re going to need people that do all the different things that go with people that work and raise their family.”
There was previous speculation the expansion could go to Canada, but Hitachi leaders said South Boston was the clear choice because of the workforce and the company’s history in the region.
“We love the quality of the industrial sectors here in the southern part of Virginia,” Allard said. “We have 60 years of high-quality work and success in South Boston. So, it was an obvious choice.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner also pointed to tax incentives as a factor in keeping the project in Virginia, saying maintaining a predictable business environment is important for attracting manufacturing investments.
“What a business like these needs is predictability,” Warner said. “Manufacturing tax breaks we’re going to maintain, and I think there’s some around cleaner energy and more alternative power.”
The project is expected to take around three years to build.