VCEDA Completes Funding For Appalachia America Energy Research Center

ABINGDON, Va. – Funding is complete for the Appalachia America Energy Research Center after the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority approved $2 million Thursday to help build the $7 million facility.

The other $5 million for the project has been awarded by the Virginia Tobacco Commission.

The Wise County Industrial Development Authority will build the research facility on property adjacent to the University of Virginia’s College at Wise in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park.

“It will be sort of a business incubator for new technology companies mostly specializing in research and development … of energy,” Jonathan Belcher, the development authority’s executive director, said of the facility. “We believe that the development of clean-coal technology and other alternative energy technology is really the way to go for our region. … What we develop here may have applications not just to our region but to the entire nation.”

The money approved by the development authority consists of a $1.045 million grant and a $955,000 loan, according to the authority.

The development authority’s funding comes from coal and natural gas severance taxes. It was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1988 to promote economic development in the state’s seven coalfield counties.

Susan Copeland, spokesman for the development authority, said the research facility will involve a lot of public-private collaboration – and products could spring from the research that could create additional jobs and industry for the region.

“It impacts everyone,” Copeland said. “It might not just be this region; it might be the whole world.”

The first tenant in the 24,000-square-foot facility will be NanoChemonics Corp., of Pulaski, Va., which announced its intention in April to occupy about 15,000 square feet of the building and initially employ six people.

Belcher said Thursday that the company’s research would center on possible applications of nanotechnology to make coal burn cleaner and more efficiently. He said other companies are also being sought to do energy research here.

“The region has always been a region for energy, and is an important supplier of energy to the nation,” Belcher said.

“The goal would be that if our area could develop a clean energy technology that could make a significant difference in national energy policy, it would really put our region at the forefront.”

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