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Dominion Finishes First Installation Season for Virginia Offshore Wind Farm

Virginia offshore wind farm
Dominion reports 78 monopile foundations and four offshore substation foundations were installed this year (Dominion Energy)

Published Nov 1, 2024 2:47 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Dominion Energy completed its first monopile installation season for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm reporting it exceeded installation targets while the overall project remains on schedule and budget with completion still projected for late 2026. The company highlights that the project demonstrates regulated offshore wind works in the United States while it has also taken steps to continue to build its offshore wind energy portfolio.

Offshore installation on the project which is approximately 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach began in May with a target of a minimum of 70 monopolies in the first season. As of August, it reported that number 50 was installed 33 miles off the coast and today they said the season ended with a total of 78 monopole foundations and four offshore substation foundations installed.

CVOW, the largest offshore wind project under construction in the United States, will consist of 176 turbines with a total capacity of 2.6 GW. The company reports the project is now 43 percent complete. The approved construction plan called for a pause of monopile installations during the winter and the whale migration season. 

For the next few months, the company will focus on the installation of the first offshore substation, continued export cable lays, and onshore transmission construction, and placement of transition pieces on top of monopiles in preparation for turbine installation starting in 2025. The second installation season is scheduled to begin in May 2025.

The monopile foundations are being staged at Portsmouth Marine Terminal and manufactured by EEW SPC. DEME Offshore and its vessel Orion are undertaking the installations and in September also began the cabling. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy will supply the turbines.

After starting construction of the first project, Dominion also reported it had agreed to acquire from Avangrid an approximately 40,000-acre lease, known as Kitty Hawk North Wind, which is approximately 25 miles south of the first project. The acquisition was recently completed with the project renamed CVOW-South and Dominion reports it could support 800 MW of offshore wind generation capacity in the 2030s.

The company was also the successful bidder for an additional 176,505-acre lease area from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in August. Adjacent and to the east of where the company's Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is under construction, the additional lease is located approximately 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Dominion said it gives the company the option to pursue additional offshore wind development in the mid-Atlantic. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management indicated the lease area could support between 2.1 gigawatts and 4.0 gigawatts of offshore wind energy generation.

Dominion Energy sold a 50 percent non-controlling interest in the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind to infrastructure alternative investment firm Stonepeak. It received proceeds of $2.6 billion, representing reimbursement of approximately half of its project-to-date capital investment. Stonepeak will fund 50 percent of the remaining project costs as they are incurred.