Virginia regulators approve a $98 million power project for Lilly's Goochland County campus

Virginia's State Corporation Commission has approved construction of a 230-kilovolt substation and a seven-mile overhead transmission line to supply electricity to Eli Lilly and Co.'s planned manufacturing campus in the West Creek Business Park in Goochland County. Dominion Energy will build the $98 million project, which is expected to be finished by summer 2028 ^[1].

The new lines will run along both sides of Route 288 and connect to existing power infrastructure near Interstate 64 ^[1]. Dominion told regulators the project is needed to serve both Lilly's plant and other residential and commercial growth in the area ^[1].

One landowner, Asgard Properties, objected. The company owns about 44 acres nearby and has spent more than three years planning a mixed-use development called Tuckahoe Creek Village, with roughly 500 housing units plus retail and office space. Asgard argued the chosen route "destroys" that plan and that transmission towers would become an eyesore that lowers property values. The commission sided with Dominion but told the utility to build the line as close as possible to the edge of Asgard's land ^[1].

Lilly bought more than 200 acres at the site for $38 million earlier this summer and has not yet broken ground, though a company spokesperson said construction is expected to start soon ^[1]. Lilly first announced the $5 billion Goochland facility about a year ago ^[1]. The site is designated to produce antibody drug conjugates and monoclonal antibodies, not incretin drugs like semaglutide or tirzepatide ^[1].

The Virginia project is one piece of a much larger buildout. Lilly said in September 2026 it will more than double its U.S. manufacturing investment since 2020, pushing total spending past $50 billion. That includes four new sites: three focused on active pharmaceutical ingredients and one expanding parenteral (injectable) manufacturing. The company says the buildout will create more than 3,000 permanent jobs and nearly 10,000 construction jobs. Lilly's prior 2020-2024 U.S. capital commitments totaled $23 billion and included sites in North Carolina, Indiana and Wisconsin ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

For people taking or considering Zepbound or Mounjaro (tirzepatide), this specific Goochland plant will not directly add manufacturing capacity for those drugs. The facility is planned for antibody-based medicines, a different class of products from the GLP-1 injectables that have faced supply constraints in recent years ^[1].

That said, the project shows Lilly continuing to pour money into U.S.-based drug manufacturing broadly, at a moment when the company has also said it is expanding capacity across its portfolio through other new API and injectable sites ^[2]. Whether any of that additional capacity eases GLP-1 supply specifically is not stated in these sources and is not yet known.

The power line dispute also illustrates a less obvious cost of large pharmaceutical buildouts: they can reshape land use and property values for neighbors long before a single vial rolls off a production line. Asgard's development plans near West Creek are affected even though the plant itself has not broken ground ^[1].

What happens next

Dominion expects the substation and transmission line to be completed by summer 2028 ^[1]. Lilly has not set a public groundbreaking date but says construction on its Goochland campus is expected to begin soon ^[1]. Readers tracking GLP-1 supply specifically should watch for separate announcements about Lilly's incretin-focused manufacturing sites, since this Virginia project is not one of them ^[1].