Episode 118 | Dynamic Duo | Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project (Dominion Energy)
There are currently seven wind turbines in the Atlantic at the time of this recording. Two of them belong to my guest.
Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project is a first for two reasons. One, it is the first commercial project to be built in federal waters, in this case between 27 and 40 miles offshore. Second, it is currently the only project leased and developed by an electric utility.
In June, I was invited to join a media tour out to the two turbines on Dominion’s 130,000-acres lease near Virginia Beach. The two turbines are 8 MW. The commercial operation will comprise 180, 14-MW turbines. A week later, I recorded an interview with this week’s guest, John Larson, Director, Public Policy and Economic Development at Dominion Energy.
I kicked off the interview with a comment made in 2019 by Dominion’s Bruce McKay during Episode 65. Bruce had said that there were very few areas for offshore wind development at the time. John says these leases are determined by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), a subset of the Dept. of the Interior. In CVOW’s case, the lease is located between two major sea lanes exiting Chesapeake Bay. John added that one section of the CVOW lease—“the wrecks”—will be excluded from development.
The 13-by-10-mile lease will also include three offshore substations to collect power (60 per substation). Three substation cables will convene about 1/2 -mile from the shore at an “undersea vault,” run under the beach, and travel at 230 kV to a substation. All undersea lines will be buried.
“If you have the cables laying on top of the sea floor and a vessel comes along and drops its anchor, they could damage those cables,” John explains. “It’s very common to have those [cables] buried in the sea floor.”
Regulations were also new for both Dominion and BOEM. For instance, pilings, making the base of each turbine, could only be driven during the months of April to November because the noise could endanger sea life. John says one of the turbines was installed using a “double-bubble curtain,” which significantly eliminated noise.
The biggest issue during the pilot installation, and one that needed to be solved before commercial construction, was securing a vessel that can operate out of U.S. ports. The Jones Act states that any non-U.S.-flagged vessel cannot sail between U.S. ports. Dominion, committed to compliance, hauled material to the CVOW site from Nova Scotia, using a European vessel. For commercial construction, Dominion has commissioned a $500 million vessel, christened the Charybdis. The ship will also be used by two other developers for American offshore wind projects.
“Europe is on a tear to build additional offshore wind,” says John. He says Dominion commissioned the ship to ensure one would be available during the ’23-’26 construction window.
I had two concerns following the visit. One, CVOW—as a single power plant—will be the 20th-largest in the U.S. With wind resources expected to be available 40% of the time, it would take approx. 10 natural gas turbines to make up the loss.
John says energy diversity is the key. Dominion and other utilities expect to rely on nuclear, solar, other wind, and gas to ensure reliability.
I was also concerned about the lifespan of the project. BOEM has given Dominion a 30-year lease. Dominion representatives told attendees in June the turbines’ lifespan is expected to last 25-30 years. That would be about the same time (2050) that Dominion has pledged to be net-carbon neutral.
“That’s the question,” says John, “what will BOEM do with that when the lease is up with the original lessee. Will they allow you to auto-renew it? We haven’t ever done this before, so we don’t know yet.” He added that repowering the turbines, a concept we explored in Episode 110, could be a possibility.
For now, John says Dominion is looking toward the possibility of doing more projects in the future. He adds that that is dependent on administrations and announcements from BOEM. Early in the interview, John pointed out that the lease rates on the first BOEM leases were $1/kW (i.e. 2.6 GW = $2.6M for the 30-year lease). Recent leases went for as much as $45-50/kW.
“If the opportunity arises,” he says, “I would envision that Dominion Energy would have a really keen interest in exploring the prospect of delivering more zero-emission offshore wind energy for our customers.”
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