Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project delivered its first power to the regional grid March 23 from a 14.7-MW Siemens Gamesa turbine, marking a milestone two months after a federal court allowed the company to resume work.
The CVOW project was one of five permitted and underway East Coast wind projects the Trump administration sought to shut down with a blanket Dec. 22 stop-work order.
“CVOW is critical to Virginia’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to meet the increasing power needs of a growing economy and population, the largest data center market in the world and among the largest military installations and defense manufacturers in the country,” company spokesman Jeremy Slayton said in a statement to Virginia news media organizations.
Dominion recently completed a third offshore substation for the $11.5 billion project located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. When fully operational in early 2027, the 176-turbine array is expected to generate 2.6 GW, enough to power up to 660,000 homes, according to the developer.
The project’s first power came the same day that the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a deal with TotalEnergies to refund $928 million the company previously paid for two wind leases in Carolina Bay and the New York Bight. In exchange, the company pledged to invest a like amount into a Texas LNG project and other fossil fuel developments.
Renewable energy advocates belittled the TotalEnergies agreement as a face-saving exercise after the administration’s repeated court losses. The pro-wind BlueGreen Alliance cheered on Dominion’s subsequent announcement.
“This project employs hundreds of union workers across the state and will create a massive amount of affordable, clean energy for Virginia at a time when utility costs and energy demand is skyrocketing,” said Dan Taylor, the alliance’s Southeast field manager.
