Dominion files construction, operations plan for $7.8B offshore wind farm

Project off Va. Beach coast would eventually provide energy for 660K homes

Published December 18, 2020 by Sydney Lake

Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc. announced Friday it has filed the required construction and operations plan (COP) with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to build the utility’s proposed $7.8 billion, 2,640-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.

“This is an important step in the process toward bringing commercial-scale offshore wind to the commonwealth and shows Dominion Energy is committed to delivering the clean, renewable and reliable energy our customers expect from us,” Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy’s vice president of offshore wind, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as the CVOW commercial project moves through the permitting process.”

Under the CVOW project, Dominion will erect 180 to 190 wind turbines, each 800 feet tall, 27 miles off the Coast of Virginia beach by 2026. When complete, the project will be capable providing enough to power 660,000 homes during peak winds. Construction is expected to begin in 2024.

Dominion announced on Dec. 16 that construction has begun on its oceangoing vessel, the Charybdis, which will ferry construction materials and workers for the project, as well as assisting with installing and raising the wind farm’s turbines.

The COP includes construction, operations and conceptual decommissioning information and plans for the wind farm to be installed within the 112,800-acre commercial lease area off the coast of Virginia Beach, which Dominion Energy acquired rights to in 2013. 

In the COP filing, Dominion states that it designed and sited the CVOW project in a manner that protects natural resources, the environment and human and wildlife health, citing survey data. Dominion also states that the project does not interfere with other uses of the outer continental shelf, such as commercial and recreational fishing, commercial shipping lanes and military training exercises.

In October, Dominion announced that its two turbine, 12-megawatt, $300 million CVOW pilot project successfully completed reliability testing.

The entire CVOW commercial project is tracking to start being constructed in 2024 and completed in 2026. At its completion, it will provide enough energy for up to 660,000 homes.

During the next six years, construction on Dominion’s proposed offshore wind farm expansion will create an estimated 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. 

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