US state government approves 12 MW offshore wind demo

Dominion Energy has announced that the State Corporation Commission of Virginia, a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the USA, has ruled in favor of plans to build two 6 MW wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach.

The US$300 million project will be funded through existing base rates, as enabled by the Grid Transformation & Security Act of 2018 (GTSA). Contingent on various regulatory approvals, onshore construction would start in 2019, followed by turbine installation and operation in 2020.

Ørsted and Dominion Energy entered into a strategic initiative to develop the project in 2017. Ørsted will construct the wind project using two units of Siemens Gamesa’s 6 MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines within a research lease area adjacent to the 112,700-acre lease area currently held by Dominion Energy, located approximately 27 miles (43.5km) off the Atlantic coast of Virginia. The lease area has a potential wind energy capacity of at least 2 GW.