Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind clears another big hurdle
Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) cleared one of its last major milestones as it received a favorable Record of Decision from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) this week.
This essentially clears the way for the project to commence with onshore construction starting later this year. The final big hurdle is the approval of the Construction and Operations Plan by the BOEM. That approval will authorize construction to begin offshore.
“Receiving a favorable Record of Decision from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is a monumental achievement for Dominion Energy and the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind team. More than a decade of work has gone into the development, design and permitting of CVOW,” Bob Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president and CEO, said. “Offshore wind is a vital part of our strategy to provide our customers with a diverse fuel mix that delivers reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy.”
The 2.6-gigawatt CVOW project will generate enough renewable energy to power up to 660,000 homes once it is fully operational in late 2026. It is expected to generate fuel savings of $3 billion for customers during the project’s first 10 years of operation. It will be located 23.5 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.
The Record of Decision summarizes the findings of the Final Environmental Impact Statement and incorporates studies, evaluations, and designs. The Record of Decision includes actions taken offshore to minimize impacts to marine life, such as North Atlantic right whales, and actions taken onshore to design and build a transmission route that avoids impacts to natural and cultural resources and communities as much as possible.
Dominion Energy worked with a broad range of stakeholders, including state and federal agencies, Tribal Nations, industry groups, and environmental justice communities to avoid, minimize, and mitigate potential impacts.
“Today’s announcement is the result of hard work by the BOEM team and our ongoing conversations with Tribes, federal agency partners, state and local leaders, ocean users, industry and others to help inform the development of this project every step of the way,” Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Elizabeth Klein said. “We look forward to continuing to work together to responsibly develop this clean energy resource and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.”
The project is expected to provide about 900 jobs each year during the construction phase and support roughly 1,100 annual jobs during the operations phase.
