BOEM Moves Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project Closer to Approval

September 26, 2023, by Adnan Memija

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has completed its environmental review of the 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project and plans to issue a Record of Decision on whether to approve the proposed project this fall.

Illustration; Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) demo project, first wind turbines in US federal waters; Photo: Dominion Energy

The federal agency has now issued the final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which analyses the potential environmental impacts of the activities outlined in CVOW’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP), and will publish a Notice of Availability for the final EIS in the Federal Register on the 29th of September.

“The completion of CVOW’s environmental review is another significant milestone to keep the project on time and on budget. Regulated offshore wind has many benefits for our customers and local economies – it’s fuel free, emissions free and diversifies our fuel mix to maintain the reliability of the grid,” said Bob Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president, and chief executive officer.

Dominion Energy is proposing to install 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines and three offshore substations in a 112,800-acre commercial lease area located 27 miles (about 43 kilometres) off the Virginia Beach coast.

CVOW is expected to create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs during construction and more than a thousand during operations, said Dominion Energy.

There are more than 750 Virginia-based workers currently engaged on the CVOW project or with other businesses supporting CVOW and future offshore wind development, including redevelopment work at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, construction of the offshore wind monitoring and coordination Center, maritime provisioning, ship repairs, divers, heavy lift and rigging, cyber security, food service, and hospitality, according to the project’s developer.

Offshore construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is scheduled to be completed in late 2026.

Once fully operational, the offshore wind farm will be able to generate enough electricity to power up to 660,000 households.