Hitachi Energy, a unit of Japanese industrial giant Hitachi Ltd., will invest $457 million to expand its South Boston, Virginia, facility, creating 825 jobs and bringing back U.S. production of large power transformers for the first time since 2017.
The expansion comes alongside a unique partnership between Virginia’s housing agency and Halifax County to build 96 workforce housing units for employees and their families. Halifax County has donated 10 acres of land and waived fees to accelerate construction, while the state approved a $29.4 million performance grant and workforce training support.
“What they make is critical to investing in our electric grid,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said on CNBC, appearing with Hitachi Energy CEO Andreas Schierenbeck. Schierenbeck added, “If you want to transmit energy, if you want to connect data centers, you need large power transformers and they are not produced up to now in the United States.”
Large power transformers are custom-built pieces of equipment, sometimes as big as a house, that step down high-voltage electricity for distribution. Long production delays and rising costs have strained utilities, with Dominion Energy citing transformer prices as a factor in its first base rate increase in 34 years. (RELATED: Youngkin: VA Economy in “An Extraordinary Position,” Medicaid Funding Safe)
The South Boston facility already produces smaller transformers, but the expansion marks part of Hitachi’s $1 billion U.S. manufacturing push, driven by surging electricity demand and energy needs tied to artificial intelligence. “The United States is a key market for Hitachi, and this investment reflects our commitment to powering America’s energy future,” said Toshiaki Tokunaga, president and CEO of Hitachi Ltd.
Youngkin said the project signals “a manufacturing renaissance in the commonwealth, with pharmaceutical manufacturing, heavy manufacturing all coming to our state.” (RELATED: Loudoun Schools Put Politics Over Students, Parents Say — Earle-Sears Pushes Back On Radical Gender Policies)