PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Governor Jim Justice, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Senator Joe Manchin and more all were in attendance at the ground breaking for a manufacturing hub powered by renewable energy microgrid.

The groundbreaking took place in Ravenswood and is estimated to be a $500,000,000 project that will help bring a renewable source of energy to West Virginia.

A state that is heavily reliant on fossil fuels for it’s energy. But Sen. Manchin says this isn’t a complete pivot to energy but instead an expansion.

“It’s an expanding of what we do in energy. The United States of America must be energy independent that means we have to do everything. You can’t get rid of something because you don’t like it you have to use it cleaner and better. You can embrace the new technology that gets you from the future where you want to be maybe and where you’re going to transition. You can’t get rid of something before you have something that’s as good or better to replace it with. Right now you’re going to need the horsepower of coal, gas and oil but we can do it better than anywhere in the world and we do,” said Sen. Manchin.

Their is no specific timetable for the manufacturing hub to be complete but they are estimating 2025 for the project to be completely underway.