Virginia Beach, VA — Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe announced that Global Technical Systems (GTS), a provider of advanced engineering solutions for defense, homeland security and related U.S. Government and international customers, will invest $54.7 million on a new electro-mechanical energy storage system (EMB) manufacturing operation in Virginia Beach. The company will construct a 500,000 s/f advanced manufacturing center to produce and distribute 100% green energy storage systems using advanced composites and engineering technologies. “Global Technical Systems has called Virginia Beach home for 20 years, and an expansion of this magnitude that will create over 1,100 new jobs is transformational for the City and the region,” said Governor McAuliffe. “Creating well-paid, 21st-century jobs is fundamental to our mission to diversify and build the new Virginia economy, and today's major announcement is another step forward. GTS models how traditional defense-oriented businesses can step out of their comfort zones and create new technologies with commercial applications that can truly change the world. We are proud to have GTS on the Commonwealth's corporate roster.” The new facility will be located on 30 acres of land currently owned by the City of Virginia Beach, at the site of the former Owl’s Creek Golf Course. Virginia Beach successfully competed against Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Washington, DC for the project, which will create 1,100 new jobs with an average annual salary of $74,000. Construction will begin in the first quarter 2018, and the facility will be operational in 2019. As this is new technology, Global Technical Systems will work with local and regional workforce partners to develop customized training programs for new employees. “This is the type of project that every community in America wants,” said Virginia Beach Mayor William Sessoms, Jr. “A local, homegrown company develops a truly transformational new technology and makes the strategic decision to build it at home. With these new energy storage systems, that are 100% environmentally friendly, GTS has created the opportunity to change how the world manages our energy resources. This is an exciting day.” The process developed by Global Technical Systems to store energy uses advanced carbon fiber technology to create a clean electro-mechanical device that stores energy without using any hazardous chemicals. Energy can come from any source such as solar, power grid, wind or water and release upon demand when needed. This scalable technology can be extremely impactful around the world for developing countries in a variety of institutional, commercial and residential applications. “This green energy manufacturing center is a long standing dream we’ve had at GTS,” said CEO Terry Spitzer. “Having steadily grown our business since 1997, we’ve continuously expanded our technical engineering competencies to meet the dynamic needs of our commercial and government customers. We have recently developed game-changing technologies that we believe will shape the future of renewable energy, grid modernization and other energy-dense storage applications. With this new facility, GTS anticipates rapidly expanding to capture an emerging trillion-plus dollar grid storage market that will reshape the way our utilities address modernization including offsetting the need for new electric generation.” The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Virginia Beach to secure the project for Virginia. Governor McAuliffe approved a $1.8 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist with the project.