Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Delivers First Power
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, which is the largest commercial-scale offshore wind project in the United States, marked a key milestone on March 23 as it delivered its first power to the grid. It comes approximately two and a half years after construction began and after more than a decade of planning.
“This achievement marks another important step forward, adding much?needed electricity to help meet the fastest?growing power demand in the country… I am so proud of the team making this progress possible—and excited about what’s ahead,” wrote Robert Blue, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Energy, in an online posting.
Last month, the company told investors the project was over 70 percent complete and moving forward on schedule. It was delayed in December and January until the company received a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration’s stop-work order. After resuming work, the first turbine installation was completed in January.
Dominion has reported that all 176 monopiles were installed between May 2024 and October 2025 and that, as of February, it was ahead of schedule on the installation of the transition pieces. The third of the offshore substations was installed in late February, and the media reports indicated that the first three turbines have now completed installation.
The company said it was “deliberately moving more slowly” with the first turbine installations to ensure it was working correctly and learning from the installation process. As of late February, it said 70 percent of the towers and nacelles and 30 percent of the blades had been fabricated.
As of the end of 2025, the company said it has invested approximately $9.3 billion in the project with an estimated total budget of $11.5 billion. That included, as of February, $580 million of actual and estimated expenses due to the Trump tariffs and an added cost of $228 million associated with the month-long work suspension due to the stop-work order from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Dominion told investors it had $155 million in an unused contingency in its budget for the offshore wind project.
CEO Robert Blue continues to assert that the project represents the “fastest and most economical way” to deliver nearly 3 GW to Virginia’s grid. The company has asserted to the Trump administration that it is facing increased demand and that the additional power is critical to its service area, which includes key military installations, the shipbuilding industry, and growing AI and data center development.
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Dominion Energy initially installed two prototype wind turbines in 2020, each of which generates 6 MW, as it was exploring offshore wind energy. It gained the lease for the offshore area in 2013.
When completed, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is slated to provide 2.6 GW with its 176 turbines. They will continue to commission turbines as work continues, and the company has said the project should be completed in early 2027.