Dominion Energy has filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) the required Construction and Operations Plan (COP) to build the 2,640-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project, the largest planned offshore wind farm in the United States.
The COP includes information about the construction, operations and conceptual decommissioning plans for Dominion Energy’s proposed offshore wind farm to be installed within a 112,800-acre Commercial Lease Area located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, which Dominion Energy obtained in 2013. Information about onshore and support facilities is included in the COP as well.
“This is an important step in the process toward bringing commercial-scale offshore wind to the Commonwealth and shows Dominion Energy is committed to delivering the clean, renewable and reliable energy our customers expect from us. We look forward to working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as the CVOW commercial project moves through the permitting process.”
Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy’s vice president of offshore wind.
Data based on the results of the many surveys of the lease area – geophysical, geotechnical, biological, cultural, socioeconomic – are included in the filing for BOEM’s review, which will take approximately two years to complete.
The company earlier this year completed the construction of CVOW’s first phase – the two turbine, 12-megawatt pilot project, which is located adjacent to the Commercial Lease Area. The two turbines are operational while the project undergoes BOEM’s technical review before officially entering service.
The company applied the valuable permitting, design and installation experience from the CVOW pilot project to its proposed commercial project. Pending approval by the State Corporation Commission, the CVOW commercial project is on track to start construction in 2024, and upon completion in 2026, will provide enough renewable electricity to power up to 660,000 homes.
According to an economic impact study performed by Glen Allen-based Mangum Economics and commissioned and published by the Hampton Roads Alliance, it is estimated that the CVOW commercial project could create approximately 900 jobs and $143 million in economic impact annually during construction and 1,100 jobs and almost $210 million in economic impact annually during operation of the turbines.
Similarly, during construction, the 2.6-gigawatt CVOW commercial project is estimated to generate nearly $5 million per year in local and state tax revenue which increases to almost $11 million annually once the project is commissioned and operational.
