Refrigerated Trailer for Rent in Ridgeville, SC

Listen to this article

By Christmas, Redwood Materials, a producer and recycler of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, expects to be operating out of its 600-acre site at Camp Hall Commerce Park in Ridgeville.

“We are very much ‘building the plane as we fly it,’ which means building smaller buildings, getting production up and going while we're building other multimillion square foot (sized) facilities so we can scale and grow into those,” said Alexis Georgeson, vice president of communications and government relations for Redwood Materials at a Feb. 15 breakfast hosted by the Berkeley County Chamber of Commerce.

In late 2022, Nevada-based Redwood Materials — founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel —announced its $3.5 billion investment to establish operations in Berkeley County, marking the largest economic development announcement in the history of South Carolina. The company expects to create 1,500 new jobs over the next 10 years.

“Research and development a big part of our focus and there will be a lot of that happening at the Berkeley campus. We hope to be working very closely with ReadySC on a lot of worker training,” Georgeson told a packed house at the South Carolina Aeronautical Training Center at Trident Technical College.

Redwood Materials, created in 2017, is the first company in the world that recycles used electric vehicle batteries and other types of batteries to extract crucial components that can then be sent to car manufacturers to be put into new electric vehicle batteries. Currently, those components exclusively come from Asia.

“Our business model is a little bit different than some other battery recyclers (in that) they're not going further downstream and doing the refining. Unless you're going further into the refining process, you're actually having to export the material and relying on another country to refine it for you,” Georgeson said. “We feel the pressure every single day to get up and going as quickly as possible and be able to feed (automakers) these components domestically. They don't have any plans other than to send $150 billion overseas to Asia right now to source these components.”

Redwood Materials works with auto dismantlers to source used and end-of-life electric vehicle batteries, either when a car reaches the end of its life or was crashed and no longer drivable, Georgeson said.

“Until now, (dismantlers) haven't had a downstream plan for these batteries. They've pretty much been just storing them and waiting for someone like Redwood to come along and take these batteries off their hands,” Georgeson said. “We go into the field, we send our own fleet of trucks and collect these thousand-pound batteries safely, package them and transport them.”

One of Redwood Materials’ largest customers is Panasonic, which manufactures Tesla electric vehicles at Tesla’s gigafactory. Panasonic will be sourcing both anode and cathode battery components from Redwood.

“The beauty of these (components) is that they can be infinitely recycled,” Georgeson said. “At a certain point where our population starts (swapping) an internal combustion engine for an electric vehicle — and if you believe that at some point, we will all be driving electric vehicles — we can hit a plateau where we’re recycling one vehicle to create a new vehicle and we’re no longer having to mine these materials (from the Earth). That's really a future that we firmly believe is not too far off.”

Georgeson said Redwood Materials is continuously looking to streamline operations and open up new recycling avenues and opportunities—including a direct consumer recycling program for household electronics.

“We send graphite recovered in our mining process downstream for industrial lubrication. We’ve got gypsum as part of our downstream product and we send that to drywall manufacturers,” Georgeson said. “Everything that's recovered in the process is reused or sent to another partner that needs it in their process. In terms of rail and trucking, we anticipate using rail very heavily on the (Camp Hall) site.”

Since recycling is the hallmark of the company, the Berkeley County facility will use renewable energy to power its operations and water used in its hydro operations will be continuously recycled.

“Our facility in Nevada, as well as the one in Berkeley County, will use one hundred percent renewable energy and have no wastewater,” Georgeson said. “Our Nevada facility took twelve months from breaking ground to products coming out of the facility. We move fast. The ability to get going on the Camp Hall site very quickly was a critical factor for us, as well as being located in a great central downtown where we knew we'd be able to recruit and retain talent.”

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Walmart’s $220 million-dollar international distribution center in Ridgeville is now open for business.

Officials from Dorchester County and Gov. Henry McMaster spoke at the grand opening on Friday.

“This is just one more sign of our great prosperity that’s going to keep on going,” McMaster says. “This is one of the three largest such distribution centers in the world.”

So far, Walmart has hired over 900 associates and they are looking to hire a total of 1,300 full-time employees. The Walmart distribution center is expected to increase the Port of Charleston’s volume by 5 percent, bringing them more jobs as well.

Jeffrey Holzbauer, General Manager of Imports with Walmart says this center will have a huge impact on Dorchester County. Not only for the number of jobs they are bringing but the pay rate as well.

Along with the distribution center, there are 122 retail stores in the state. In total, Walmart employs over 30,000 associates in South Carolina.

This will be the 5th distribution facility in the state, and its impact will reach farther than South Carolina. The center will supply 850 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores across the southeast.

Holzbauer says over the past few years keeping shelves in stores stocked has been an issue. The distribution center’s main purpose is to limit situations like that happening by making sure the right stores have the right products at the right time.

“Trailers come in from the port, folks then unload them,” Holzbauer says. “They go to a storage rack until a store is running low on inventory. Then we send associates to pick that product, take it to the ship dock, and put it in containers that’s destined for a regional distribution center.”

The town of Ridgeville was chosen for the distribution center for a few reasons. It’s strategically located relatively close to the port of Charleston. Holzbauer says there were a lot of qualified associates in the area, and there’s access to major transportation channels to get their products to their stores as fast as possible.

South Carolina Ports Authority President and CEO Jim Newsome says this building could be the tip of the iceberg for a county focused on business.

“We own this whole industrial campus, except we granted this to Walmart, so we’re working on other projects out here,” Newsome says. “I think there’s a number of distribution projects that can come here because of the location between I-26 and I-95.”

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - A cold storage solutions company plans to invest more than $70 million to establish operations in Dorchester County, the governor’s office announced Thursday.

Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics is a third-party cold chain services provider that focuses on handling, storage, distribution and value-added services for the food industry. The company works to bridge supply gaps within the cold chain industry through modern cold storage warehouse development and services.

“We are extremely excited about this project and want to express our sincere thanks to the South Carolina Ports Authority, Dorchester County, our Saxum Real Estate partners, the Governor and the Department of Commerce in the great state of South Carolina for their support,” Arcadia CEO Chris Hughes said. “We are very bullish on the Charleston market — the advantages of the Port of Charleston as a Southeast gateway out of and into the U.S. — and on our ability to provide the specialized and unique handling and storage services that will be required for retailers, frozen and refrigerated food manufacturers, and fruit and produce importers to grow their market share in the region. Most importantly, we are proud to bring new jobs to Dorchester County and the surrounding communities.”

The new operation, which will be located at the Ridgeville Industrial Campus, will support high-volume throughput handling services including a variety of value-added services, full pallet handling, case picking and transportation management. The company will utilize the Port of Charleston to support both import and export trade.

“The demand for efficient food distribution across the United States will only continue to grow, and it’s innovative companies like Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics that are answering the call and addressing supply gaps,” Gov. Henry McMaster said. “We are proud to welcome this company to Dorchester County, and look forward to the positive impact they will make in South Carolina and on the U.S. food supply chain.”

The company expects the investment will create 69 new jobs.

“We are excited to welcome Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics to Dorchester County and celebrate the 69 new jobs that the company will create,” Secretary of Commerce Harry Lightsey said. “South Carolina’s talented workforce, ideal East Coast location and efficient infrastructure network make our state the perfect location for Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics’ new operations.”

The facility is expected to be operational by early 2024. Those interested in joining the Arcadia Cold Storage & Logistics team should visit the company’s careers page.

Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Google has confirmed it is behind a data center development project in Ridgeville, South Carolina

The search and cloud company has also received permission to develop three more data centers in Belgium.

Google confirmed to expand in South Carolina

Google has revealed itself to be behind the Project Dawson data center proposals in South Carolina.

“The Dorchester County Economic Development (DCED) office, which serves to support economic growth in the county, confirms a relationship with Google who recently closed on property in the county,” the DCED said this week.

“We are thrilled to welcome Google to Dorchester County and know they will be a long-term partner for our community, especially our schools,” said Dorchester County Council Chairman Todd Friddle. “Google has a history of strengthening local workforces and uplifting communities, and we look forward to Google making a positive difference here in Dorchester County.”

Campus specifications or project timelines haven't been shared.

According to the Post and Courier, the company aims to invest $510 million in the new campus – a 231-acre site along Research Center Drive and Highway 17A in Dorchester County’s Pine Hill Business Campus. The Dorchester County Council voted to change the site’s zoning earlier this month.

Google – previously reported as the company likely involved – has previously been conducting business around the project behind the Autumn Timber LLC and Mallard LLC company names. The search company had been referring to the site as Project Dawson.

“We have been proud to call South Carolina home for over fifteen years since we first put down roots in Berkeley County,” Google said in a statement. “Since then, we have partnered closely with local leadership, schools, and nonprofits to lift up the great work happening here. As we look to expand in the state, we have acquired property in Dorchester County for the development of a new data center campus. We look forward to growing our community here in South Carolina and will share details as this long-term project progresses.”

Google currently operates a South Carolina data center campus in Moncks Corner, around 20 miles east of Ridgeville. The company recently acquired another 140 acres in the area.

The Post and Courier also reports that Google, going by the aliases Project Evergreen and Gannett Enterprises LLC, has also is purchasing 206 acres for a proposed third data center near the county's Winding Woods Commerce Park along Pecan Tree Road and Highway 78, outside the town of St. George. The company was granted a $5.55 million purchase option for the land this month.

However, the company reportedly aims to focus on the Pine Hill campus for now, and will expand to the Winding Woods site as demand requires.

Google expands in Belgium

In Belgium, Google has been granted permission for a new data center campus.

The Walloon Region has issued an urban planning permit to the company for the construction of a new data center campus in the Hainaut municipality of Farciennes. The company is reportedly investing €600 million ($646m) in the project.

“The Walloon Region has just granted the permit for the installation of Google in Farcienne,” said Hugues Bayet, mayor of the municipality of Farciennes. “A new step in the realization of the digital giant's welcome in our region and above all the net creation of many jobs!”

Plans for the camps were first announced in July 2023. The campus will span some 53,000 sqm (570,500 sq ft). Previous reports suggested work would begin on the first phase – spanning around 7,500 sqm (80,730 sq ft) – would begin last year and launch in 2025.

More recent press suggests groundbreaking for the first 80MW phase is due to happen later this year.

Google acquired 53 hectares of land in the Ecopôle eco-business park, located across the municipalities of Farciennes, Aiseau-Presles, and Sambreville, in 2019. According to previous reports, energy firm Elia has confirmed that 200-300MW of capacity would be available on the site.

Belgium’s Saint Ghislain was the site of Google’s first data center in Europe. The company has built five data centers at its 90-hectare Saint-Ghislain site since 2009 as well as a solar plant. The company uses the shell company Crystal Computing for much of its dealings in Belgium.

2022 also saw Google acquire a 36-hectare site located in Ecaussinnes, in Hainaut province, in the Feluy industrial zone near La Louvière.

According to Raphael Stokis, a delegated official of the Walloon Region, the conditions attached to the permit will require on-site solar panels. Additionally, 90 percent of the energy consumed on the site must be carbon-free by 2025 and this must even be 95 percent by 2030.

Google will also have to opt for a more sustainable cooling system for the data centers in future – reportedly switching from systems that use water-consuming technology to air-cooling.

RIDGEVILLE, S.C. (WCBD)- Researchers have confirmed the discovery of fossils belonging to a 24-million-year-old whale in Dorchester County.

The newly discovered bones belonged to Eomysticetus, an extinct ancestor of baleen whales, according to experts. A team from Palmetto Fossil Excursions unearthed the fossils earlier this month along the Chandler Bridge formation near Ridgeville.

“It was extremely exciting knowing how rare Eomysticetes are and knowing that’s what we were pulling out of the ground,” Founder Skye Basak said.

Basak and Thomas Gilpin first located the posterior end of the Eomysticete’s skull around 6:00 p.m. on March 29.

The following day, Basak and Gilpin were joined by Joshua Basak, Dr. Elizabeth Kane, David Ryan, Ken Pullen, Mike Bona, and Dr. Robert Boessenecker to continue the excavation process.

By nightfall, the team had expanded the hole to nearly 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep and discovered several more bones—one lower mandible, the sternum, 10 vertebrae, including the atlas, multiple ribs, a flipper bone, and multiple throat bones.

“That’s all that we were able to locate in the bottom of the hole as of last week, but the hole needs to be expanded…so we can look for the rest of the animal,” Basak said.

The lower mandible was finally freed from the hole by about 9:30 p.m. on March 31 and a few hours later the 6-foot-long, 2,000-pound block containing the skull was also freed, according to Basak.

Dr. Boessenecker, a research fellow at the College of Charleston’s Mace Brown Museum of Natural History and one of the world’s leading experts on Eomysticetes, called the specimen a rare find as less than 20 complete skulls exist worldwide.

“It is likely to be more complete than the original specimen of Eomysticetus that was discovered in the 1970s,” he explained. “The more complete a fossil is, the more you can tell about its functional anatomy and how it may have behaved in life.”

Eomysticetes were the largest living whales during the Oligocene Epoch which dates back about 33.9 million to 23 million years ago, according to the American Museum of Natural History. They are believed to have been between 25 and 35 feet long, which is much smaller than modern baleen whales.

Researchers also believe that while the whales may have already had baleen, a filter-feeding system, which allowed them to eat zooplankton. There is also evidence to suggest that Eomysticetes may have also had a few residual teeth, according to experts.

Remains of the extinct whales have primarily been found in South Carolina, New Zealand, Japan, Washington, and Oregon. But, Dr. Boessenecker said the first named specimen of Eomysticetus was discovered in Ladson.

“There’s some isotopic evidence that they perhaps underwent seasonal migration,” he said.

After experiencing machinery-related setbacks, Basak said she hopes the team will continue the excavation efforts in the coming weeks.

“Knowing what this specimen will do for science is kind of mind-blowing, especially if we’re able to locate the rest of the animal and bring it to a point where it’s the most complete specimen of its kind,” she continued.

If you find a fossil in the ground or on the beach in the Charleston area, you can reach out to the Mace Brown Museum for identification.