US offshore wind leap as Trump's regulator OKs Virginia pilot

The move by President Donald Trump's administration will enable Dominion to have the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project in commercial operation by the end of 2020 – the emerging US industry’s first turbines in federal waters on the outer continental shelf.

The FDR details the design of all the major components of the project, while the FIR describes the fabrication and installation plans of the equipment.

Dominion submitted the documents in partnership with Orsted which is acting as engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the offshore project phase.

The LE Meyers Company will perform land-based construction to facilitate interconnection with an existing Dominion substation.

“The FDR/FIR no objection determination is the latest milestone in a list of firsts for the burgeoning offshore wind industry in the US to come through the CVOW project,” Thomas Brostrom, chief executive of Orsted US Offshore Wind, said in a statement.

He added that the pilot project continues to provide all involved parties valuable experience that will drive regulatory efficiencies and increased certainty “that will reduce costs for future projects in the US”.

Dominion said the construction process is on a strict timetable to minimise environmental impacts to the sea bottom and aquatic life. Observers will be present during offshore construction work to monitor any protected species in the area. If those species are located within an exclusion zone, work will halt.

The project has a $300m price tag excluding financing costs. The levelised cost of energy (LCOE) estimate is 78 cents/kWh, more than three times as expensive as the pioneering 2016 five-turbine Block Island pilot – America’s only offshore array – in Rhode Island state waters.

Nevertheless, CVOW was declared in the “public interest” by Virginia’s General Assembly in a bill that Governor Ralph Northam signed into law last year. On that basis, the State Corporation Commission approved the project last November.

Dominion customers will not see an increase in electric rates for the pilot as the utility will recover the cost in existing base rates.

The pilot will be next to a 456 sq km lease area that Dominion won in the second competitive auction held in federal US waters earlier this decade.

The area is the southernmost of any under development for offshore wind energy and more hurricane-prone than those in the northeast.