Dominion Energy Plans to Add 3.4 GW of New Offshore Wind

In its 2024 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) and the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC), Dominion Energy Virginia laid out multiple portfolio options to meet rising power demand through investments in new power generation, including offshore wind.

The IRP is based on a forecast developed by PJM, which projects that power demand within the company’s delivery zone is forecasted to grow 5.5 per cent annually for the next decade and to double by 2039.

The plan is not a request to build any specific project but instead a long-term planning document based on current technology, market information, and load projections.

The company states that 80 per cent of its planned incremental power generation over the next 15 years will be carbon-free.

This includes 3,400 MW of new offshore wind capacity, in addition to the 2,600 MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project currently under development.

CVOW will feature 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines and will become the biggest US offshore wind farm once in operation.

The IRP also features 12,000 MW of new solar, 4,500 MW of new battery storage, and the introduction of small modular nuclear reactors starting in the mid-2030s.

About 20 per cent of the plan’s incremental power generation will come from natural gas, which is an important source of reliable backup power to ensure the lights stay on when the company’s growing wind and solar fleet are not producing electricity, said Dominion Energy.

“We are experiencing the largest growth in power demand since the years following World War II. No single energy source, grid solution or energy efficiency program will reliably serve the growing needs of our customers. We need an “all-of-the-above” approach, and we are developing innovative solutions to ensure we deliver for our customers”, said Ed Baine, President of Dominion Energy Virginia.

In August, Virginia Electric and Power Co., a subsidiary of Dominion Energy, won a lease area in the Central Atlantic offshore wind auction in the US.

The company provisionally won the OCS-A 0558 lease area with a bid of around USD 17.7 million (around EUR 16 million). This area spans 176,505 acres (approx. 714 square kilometres) and is located some 35 nautical miles (almost 65 kilometres) from the entrance of Chesapeake Bay.

In July this year, Iberdrola signed an agreement with Dominion’s subsidiary under which Dominion will acquire the Kitty Hawk North Wind offshore wind lease area.

The site, located some 40 kilometres north of the CVOW project, would be renamed CVOW-South, subject to regulatory approvals of the acquisition.

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