Offshore wind boom

Dominion Energy and the Port of Virginia are working on a lease agreement for more than 70 acres at the port’s Portsmouth Marine Terminal to serve Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

“The site is to be used as a staging and pre-assembly area for the foundations and turbines to be installed on the 2.6-gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project,” said the port.

Scheduled to begin offshore construction in 2024, the CVOW will include up to 180 turbines standing slightly more than 800 feet tall. Once fully constructed in 2026, the CVOW project will be the largest offshore wind project in the US and will generate enough clean, sustainable energy to power up to 660,000 homes at peak and avoid as much as 5m tons of carbon dioxide annually.

The pilot project is the first project installed in federal waters and is the only project developed and owned by an electric utility.

In January, GreenPort reported on Danish energy company Ørsted’s decision to lease a part of Portsmouth Marine Terminal for its work on CVOW project with Dominion Energy, as well as for staging materials and equipment for Ørsted projects up and down the US East Coast.