Checking in on The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project: Podcast Episode 113
What Can North Carolina Learn from Virginia’s Investments in Offshore Wind?
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Project in Virginia Beach is a great example of what could be done in North Carolina. John Larson of Dominion Energy recently joined NCSEA on the Squeaky Clean Energy Podcast to discuss the specifics of the project and its numerous benefits. If you haven’t had a chance to listen yet, or you want a refresher, read this summary of the episode to get up to speed!
A graduate of North Carolina State University, John Larson is the Director of Public Policy and Economic Development at Dominion Energy and has been with the company for 29 years. Coming from an engineering background, John has a unique perspective on both the technical and policy side of projects. He has been working for years on CVOW.
John shared that CVOW is currently under construction, with plans to complete the $9.8 billion dollar project in 2026. However, the planning for CVOW started years ago. Dominion originally won the auction for the project area back in 2013, and to get a better understanding of the offshore wind industry, Dominion first decided to install 2 “pilot” turbines each with 6 megawatts of capacity.
Completed in October of 2020, Dominion began the planning and approval process for CVOW, a large project of 176 – 14 megawatt turbines, powering 660,000 homes at maximum capacity. Despite concerns over obstructed beach views and the turbine’s 830-foot height above water, John mentioned that the turbines will be 27 to 42 miles off the coast and often will not be visible.
One of the most important benefits of offshore wind projects is their ability to hedge against the fuel cost risks that come with natural gas and other non-renewable energy sources. Most of us remember Winter Storm Elliot, which hit the Southeast hard in December of 2022. At the time, natural gas was subject to scarcity pricing, which drove up the cost of fuel. In comparison, offshore wind doesn’t require any fuel to generate power. Therefore, John stated that if CVOW was running at the time, their customers would have saved 10 million dollars in a single day. If that wasn’t enough, he also shared that in the first 10 years of its operation, CVOW is expected to save customers a minimum of 3 billion dollars in fuel costs.
John also highlighted Dominion’s dedication to working with rather than against communities. Before beginning any installation, Dominion convened a grasstops advisory council consisting of various stakeholders from Virginia Beach and the surrounding communities, including fishermen and diverse communities. This way, John mentioned, Dominion would be aware of any concerns from the onset so they could mitigate them wherever possible throughout the project’s design and installation.
In addition, CVOW has brought a significant amount of economic development to the area. The project is estimated to bring in 900 jobs per year in its construction phase and 1,100 during the operating and maintenance phases. So far, constructing the equipment alone has generated 1,600 jobs, half of which are in Virginia.
With the development of offshore wind across the country, some have raised concerns about the impact on marine mammals. Dominion Energy is hedging those risks in many ways. First, they are only installing the turbine’s monopiles, or underwater foundation, for half of the year, while whales are not migrating. In addition, all boats going through the area have a speed limit to ensure marine animals will be spotted and to avoid any potential collisions.
Overall, our team over at NCSEA is thankful for John and Dominion for their years of hard work to our North in Virginia, diversifying the grid, mitigating carbon emissions, and bringing plenty of job opportunities to local communities. We hope their work highlights the robust benefits offshore wind could offer for North Carolina.
Make sure to give the latest episode of the podcast featuring the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project here: https://soundcloud.com/energync/episode113