CSUB kicks off construction of new energy innovation center
Local dignitaries celebrated the start of construction Thursday on a three-story building touted as holding the key to not only Kern County’s economic prospects but the very future of energy in California.
As many as 200 people came together near the university’s Science III building to mark a ceremonial groundbreaking on CSUB’s 56,000-square-foot Energy Innovation Building. It is scheduled to begin hosting classes in fall 2027.
Already more than a decade in planning stages, the building will be primarily funded by $83 million set aside by the state Legislature in 2022. The project has since had to be scaled down somewhat after construction costs rose in the aftermath of the pandemic. The university continues to accept donations for naming rights within the structure.
“They will be the resource — the mind resource and the human resource — for the energy capital of the entire United States one day, out of this building that will be built behind us,” Grove said.
CSUB President Vernon B. Harper Jr. said the university was breaking ground on more than a building.
“We are breaking ground on a bold vision for this region,” he said. “With the Energy Innovation Building, Kern County is staking its rightful claim as California’s leader in the advancement and evolution of the science of energy.”
He and other speakers thanked financial contributors including Chevron Corp., Dignity Health and California Resources Corp. Credit was also extended to generous families and individuals such as Ben and Gayle Batey and Angelo Mazzei and his family.
