Elizabeth Cooper

Kate Staples, Dominion Energy’s manager of electrification, is working to spread the statewide adoption of electric vehicles such as this Dominion-branded car.

Charging ahead

Dominion Energy encourages electric vehicle adoption

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Greener rides are on tap for schoolchildren and commuters as Dominion Energy Inc. accelerates efforts to increase the number of electric vehicles on Virginia roads. Electric transportation is a key component of the Richmond-based utility’s 10-year Grid Transformation Plan, which sets targets for reducing carbon, adding renewable energy sources and transforming the electric grid for…

Brian Solis, an assistant to Virginia Beach’s city manager, is starting up the city’s new Resort Management Office.

Virginia Beach revives resort office to bolster Oceanfront tourism

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This summer, visitors to Virginia Beach’s resort area will be greeted by spruced-up properties, enhanced entertainment options and new tourism ambassadors. These are just some of the city’s efforts to improve the 40-block commercial district through its restored Resort Management Office. City Council is allocating $1.1 million from its tourism tax fund to revive the…

Scheduled for completion in summer 2021, the Midtown Row mixed-use development near William & Mary will feature office and retail space and 240 apartments.

Hope springs eternal

After tough pandemic season, Williamsburg seeks 2021 renewal

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Williamsburg’s tourism-steeped economy was on track for a banner year when COVID-19 knocked it off course. Businesses, including tourist attractions Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Colonial Williamsburg shut down, William & Mary sent students home, and hotel and motel occupancy rates plummeted. As of late October, with capacity restrictions gradually lifted, Williamsburg was striving to get…

Photo by Elizabeth Cooper

Change in the air

Dominion debuts offshore wind farm

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After almost a decade of planning, Dominion Energy Inc. will begin harnessing offshore wind power this fall as two massive test turbines go into operation off the coast of Virginia Beach. Standing about 600 feet tall, the 12-megawatt turbines are the cornerstone of Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project. The company, the first…

The Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel is set to expand to eight lanes by 2025. Photo by Mark Rhodes

The big dig

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion incorporates new tunnel boring technology

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With construction beginning this fall to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), relief is on the way for travelers weary of sitting in traffic jams along one of south-eastern Virginia’s most congested corridors. The $3.8 billion expansion is the largest project in the history of the Virginia Department of Transportation and one of the largest…

A $450 million upgrade of Norfolk International Terminals will be complete in December with the installation of two new ship-to-shore cranes. Photo courtesy Port of Virginia

Sailing for the horizon

Despite pandemic disruptions, the Port of Virginia looks to the future

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Tariff wars and the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a one-two punch to the Port of Virginia, but officials are focusing on the positive as expansions are completed at the port’s two largest terminals, and a dredging project to make Virginia the East Coast’s deepest port is running ahead of schedule. The third-largest East Coast port behind…

On July 5, Dominion Energy and Duke Energy abandoned plans to build the $8 billion, 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which was supposed to run from West Virginia through Virginia to eastern Northern Carolina. Photo courtesy Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance’s Pipeline Compliance Surveillance Initiative

Pipeline to progress?

Natural gas is key component of Dominion’s carbon-free plan

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Although Dominion Energy Inc. has pulled the plug on its $8 billion-plus Atlantic Coast Pipeline, natural gas remains a linchpin in the Richmond-based utility’s plan to shift from coal to renewable energy sources like wind and solar for electricity generation. Dominion announced over the Fourth of July weekend that it was abandoning the pipeline and…

Offshore windfall

Hampton Roads will be East Coast center for wind energy

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Two massive wind turbines are scheduled to begin spinning off the coast of Virginia Beach by the end of 2020, providing electricity to 3,000 homes and paving the way for Dominion Energy Inc. to build the nation’s largest offshore wind farm.    And even amid the coronavirus outbreak, plans are still proceeding on course, says…

This 20-megawatt Dominion-owned solar farm in Sussex County’s Stony Creek area is one of six Virginia solar farms producing renewable energy purchased by Amazon Web Services to offset its environmental impact. Drone photography by Rick DeBerry

Positive energy

How Virginia’s electric utilities plan to become carbon neutral by 2050

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By 2026, as many as 220 massive wind turbines — each taller than the Washington Monument — may be churning away less than 30 miles off the Virginia Beach coast, powering up to 650,000 homes with renewable energy. The $7.8 billion proposed offshore wind farm would be the nation’s largest such project, but it’s just…

Smithfield Foods Inc. has announced $300,000 in new STEM committments.

Pig-powered

Dominion Energy and Smithfield Foods join forces to convert hog manure into energy

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Along with emitting a potent odor, manure produced by the nearly  75 million hogs in the U.S. generates methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. However, Virginia’s largest electric utility and the world’s largest pork producer have teamed up to combat the latter problem by transforming these emissions…