The last two major federal approvals that Dominion Energy received before construction of the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in 27 miles from Virginia Beach coast, that is, the coast of the United States, are the Right of Way grant by the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Clean Air Act exemption by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
BOEM and subsequently provided its final approval of COP, authorising the construction offshore. In the recent times, it issued the Final Interim Approval Comments that were provided to the developer after getting approval from the US Department of Interior which is the last step in the National Environmental Policy Act review process for the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project in Virginia Beach coast.
The US Army Corps of Engineers granted the US waters permit that permits impacts on the US waters, including the route of the electric transmission line, the underground transmission tunnel to connect the renewable energy located offshore to the electric grid onshore.
We have leading the way for offshore wind towards the beginning of the construction of offshore wind for: Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind. These regulatory approvals enable CVOW to stay on schedule and to the budget enabling us to focus on our mission of enhancing our customer’s supply of dependable, affordable and good quality power.
Capacity
The project 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project in Virginia Beach coast will consist of one hundred seventy-six Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines with three offshore substations within the 113,000-acre commercial lease offshore.
The fabrication and construction activities are already ongoing and hence, the monopile foundation has been brought and will be brought at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia.
As reported previously, Dominion Energy selected a consortium of DEME and Prysmian as the Balance of Plant (BoP) contractors to complete the work of transporting and installing foundations and substations as well as to provide engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) services for inter-array and export cables for what will end up being
Starting from the April in the second quarter of the current year, the offshore activities related to the installation of the export cable and that for the monopile foundation are to begin.
Moreover, work upriver in some onshore activities started in November 2023 after the Record of Decision of BOEM access and will go live with these last approvals, said the company.
The latest figures based on Dominion Energy reports show that more than 750 Virginia-based workers, roughly 530 in the Hampton Roads area, have worked on the CVOW project or work with the other companies supporting the wind farm.
As for this work, it encompasses reconstructive activities at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, offshore wind Monitoring and Coordination Center building, the maritime provisioning, ship maintenance, heavy lift rigging, IT security, the food services, and hospitality.
Over 1,000 local jobs will be necessitated to sustain the running of this processing plant as a going concern even after the commissioning of the project itself, the project developer added.
Completion date
By the year late 2026 when the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will completely be constructed can be able to generate the maximum amount of renewable energy that can supply up to 660,000 homes.
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