Dominion Energy's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Turbines Complete Final Step To Start Serving Virginia Customers

Dominion Energy announced today the two turbine, 12-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project, located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, successfully completed reliability testing and is ready to enter commercial service to deliver clean, renewable energy to Virginia customers.

"This is a monumental day for the Commonwealth and the burgeoning offshore wind industry in America as CVOW is ready to deliver clean, renewable energy to our Virginia customers," said Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy vice president of offshore wind. "Our team has worked diligently with key stakeholders and regulators while safely navigating through the coronavirus pandemic to complete this vitally important project that is a key step to reducing carbon emissions."

The next significant regulatory step for CVOW is to submit the final documentation for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to complete its technical review, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year. The turbines will remain in operation during this review process. CVOW is the only project currently permitted under the BOEM process and will be the first fully operational wind power generation facility in U.S. federal waters with the capability to generate enough electricity to power up to 3,000 Virginia homes.

Offshore wind generation is a major component of Dominion Energy's comprehensive clean energy strategy to meet standards mandated in the Virginia Clean Economy Act and to achieve the company's net zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions commitment by 2050.

The company will apply the valuable permitting, design, installation and operations experience from the pilot project to its proposed 2,600-megawatt commercial project. That project, which is the largest announced offshore wind project in North America, is on track to commence construction in 2024, and upon completion, will provide enough renewable electricity to power up to 660,000 homes.

According to an economic impact study performed by Glen Allen-based Mangum Economics and commissioned and published by the Hampton Roads Alliance, it is estimated that the CVOW commercial project could create approximately 900 jobs and $143 million in economic impact annually during construction and 1,100 jobs and almost $210 million in economic impact annually during operation of the turbines.

Similarly, during construction, the 2.6-gigawatt CVOW commercial project is estimated to generate nearly $5 million per year in local and state tax revenue which increases to almost $11 million annually once the project is commissioned and operational.

A variety of Virginia-based companies contributed to the CVOW pilot project and Dominion Energy remains committed to positioning Hampton Roads as a supply chain hub for U.S. offshore wind efforts, which can create thousands of clean energy jobs in the Commonwealth. 

Customers will see no increase in rates for the pilot project under the provisions of the Grid Transformation and Security Act of 2018.

Installation of the two pilot turbines was completed in June. Ørsted served as the offshore engineering, procurement and construction lead for the pilot project. The L. E. Myers Company with members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, performed the onshore construction work.

Work continues on Dominion Energy's proposed 2.6-gigawatt commercial wind project and its Construction and Operations Plan is on schedule to be submitted to BOEM later this year.