DANVILLE, Va. – Microporous, a battery company, plans to invest $1.3 billion dollars and bring more than 2,000 jobs to Pittsylvania County.
It will be the first major tenant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill, the culmination of a plan by economic development officials a decade in the making.
Company officials and local leaders gathered Wednesday for a groundbreaking ceremony.
“Many of us vividly remember those tobacco fields and that old cotton mill, but moving forward, we will be known nationwide if not worldwide, for advanced manufacturing and technology,” said Vic Ingram, Chairman of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority and a member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors.
The Tennessee-based company creates battery separators - a piece of a battery that enables it to charge but not short out. Here in Virginia, it would take that to the next level by creating those separators for lithium-ion batteries, often used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics.
“It’s super exciting but it’s like working real, real hard to get to the starting line,” Microporous CEO John Reeves told 10 News. “As you guys can see there’s not a factory here yet. There’s not the 2,000 employees quite yet but we’re real excited to get to this milestone event.”
The average salary for the jobs is expected to be around $58,000.
“These are high-paying jobs that will provide for a great, great life here. It will drive investment in housing. it’ll drive tax base receipts to invest in schools and in law enforcement and all of the things that we know that it takes to have an even better community,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Virginia.
Microporous expects to start with 500 jobs, eventually building to the 2,000 jobs that are being promised.
The first phase of the project is expected to start in 2026.
It’s already taking applications, which can be found here.