This month, Dominion Energy announced its two-turbine, 12-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project, located in a research lease area 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.

"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,” said Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy vice president of offshore wind.

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 2020. 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.

CVOW is the first fully operational offshore wind power plant owned by an electric company in U.S. federal waters and is able to generate enough electricity to power up to 3,000 Virginia homes. The project is an important first step toward offshore wind development for Virginia and the United States.

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.

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

An economic impact study conducted by Glen Allen-based Mangum Economics, which was commissioned and published by the Hampton Roads Alliance, 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.

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

The two pilot turbines were installed 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.

EEI member companies are committed to getting the energy they provide as clean as they can, as fast as they can, while keeping reliability and affordability front and center.

Tags : Clean Energy, The Energy Grid, Game Changers, All