Twenty-seven miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia, stand two offshore wind turbines, each taller than the Washington Monument, generating power for up to 3,000 homes.
In five years, Dominion Energy hopes to be finishing construction of its own ocean skyline — complete with 180 turbines standing roughly 200 feet taller than the pilot project, three underwater power substations, and a deep-sea transmission line to bring that electricity to shore.
The Virginia-based utility expects the commercial project, now the largest proposed offshore wind project in the country, to generate 2.6 gigawatts of electricity. That is enough zero-carbon electricity to power 660,000 homes.
Dominion Energy’s offshore wind efforts are a microcosm of what is happening all up and down the eastern seaboard. States and power companies invest billions in putting turbines in the water and turning East Coast ports into offshore wind industry hubs.
For example, Dominion expects to spend roughly $8 billion on its commercial project, including constructing a U.S.-based turbine installation vessel.
The Biden administration is also eager to see the U.S. offshore wind industry blossom. In March, President Joe Biden set a goal for the United States to deploy 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, making the industry’s success a key piece of meeting his aggressive clean energy and climate targets.
Since then, the Biden administration has approved for construction of the first large-scale offshore wind project, the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind off the coast of Massachusetts. The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has also announced it would advance the first areas for offshore wind off the California coast, propose a new lease sale in the New York Bight between Long Island and New Jersey, and begin exploring opportunities for offshore wind in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Biden administration’s next offshore wind milestone is likely to involve Dominion’s commercial project.
Officials with the utility say they are imminently expecting BOEM to release a notice of intent for their project, which would offer the public a chance for input on the utility’s plans and start the environmental review necessary for final approval.
If all goes well, Dominion expects BOEM to issue a draft environmental impact statement in June 2022, finalize its review in June 2023, and approve the project a few months later, Scott Lawton, Dominion’s director of generation environmental business support, told reporters on a June 16 boat trip to the pilot turbines.
Once the utility has secured that approval, it aims to put the first steel in the water in 2024 and finish construction in 2026, said Kevin Carroll, Dominion’s operations and maintenance manager for the offshore wind project.
After more than two decades in the Coast Guard, Carroll, who joined Dominion, refers affectionately to the pilot turbines as his “wind babies.” He said Dominion is learning valuable lessons from the two 6 MW turbines to apply to its commercial project.
For example, the pilot turbines have performed even better than expected, Carroll said. The turbines have been available to generate power roughly 97% of the time since they began operating in October 2020.
They’ve also been more efficient at generating power. To date this year, the two turbines have achieved a 54% capacity factor, compared to the 35% Dominion had forecasted. Carroll cautioned that the utility still needs more data before it can make a definitive statement on the turbine’s efficiency.
And perhaps most importantly, Dominion’s pilot project, as the first one approved in federal waters, helped test the permitting process that BOEM will now undertake with the commercial project and other offshore wind ventures.
“We learned from them. They learned from us. It was a very iterative and very transparent process going through with them,” Lawton said of permitting for the pilot turbines. “That was all for not only the benefit of this project … but for the industry as a whole.”
Dominion officials say the most important thing the Biden administration can do, as it looks to help scale U.S. offshore wind, is to provide certainty to power companies and other developers on what to expect in the permitting process.
Many of the projects coming to fruition have been in the planning stages for years, so while tax incentives could help some developers, the bigger issue ahead is navigating the permitting process, said Ann Loomis, Dominion’s vice president of federal affairs.
For example, Dominion began planning its pilot turbines in the early 2010s, and it was working on its construction and operations plan for the commercial 180-turbine project as it was building the pilot project.
“Every project has some unique features that will be analyzed extensively, but really understanding BOEM’s expectations in moving through the permitting process really impacts the economic viability of each project,” Loomis said in an interview.
Dominion’s project, however, won’t necessarily see smooth sailing ahead.
For example, the utility is still working to assuage the concerns of commercial and recreational fishers in the area who are fearful that the project could reduce their catch.
Dominion must also be cognizant not to harm ocean species. The migration path of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the world’s most endangered whale species, cuts right along the Virginia coastline, meaning Dominion will have to develop its construction plans to minimize noise during that six-month period.
On land, Dominion is working to gain support from people in the towns where transmission lines could cut through to help bring power to homes and businesses.
All of those issues will come under scrutiny once BOEM releases the notice of intent for the commercial project.
Carroll, the operations and maintenance manager, said he isn’t concerned but instead excited to hear what the public (including fellow ocean users, environmental groups, and locals) thinks about the commercial project.
“We believe we have a really good plan,” Carroll said. “I think it’s going to be a great plan when we get that input from the public.”
