Siemens-Gamesa Bags Deal for Mammoth 2.64-GW Virginia Offshore Wind Project
Dominion Energy’s proposed 2.64-GW Virginia Offshore Wind project—the world’s largest single offshore wind project proposed to date—will likely feature turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE).
A Jan. 7-announced preferred supplier agreement signed by the two companies could give the wind turbine maker a stronghold in the burgeoning offshore wind U.S. market. While the final number of units and the turbine model for the project are yet undetermined, SGRE suggested the project will likely use turbines from its direct-drive (DD) offshore wind turbine platform, which have widely been installed in Europe. SGRE also said that if Dominion Energy makes a final investment decision on the project, and the project achieves necessary permits and other required approvals, “all installations are expected to complete by 2026.”
Dominion announced plans to build the mammoth project in September 2019, shortly after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued an executive order calling for 2.5 GW of offshore wind by 2026. The proposed Dominion Virginia Offshore Wind project will expand on knowledge gained from Dominion’s 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, which will feature two SGRE 6-MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines when it comes online by the end of this year, SGRE said.
Scaling Up from 12 MW to 2.6 GW
The CVOW project, which will become the first offshore wind project to be built in federal waters, is sited 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach in a 2,135-acre research lease area near the proposed 2.6-GW project site. According to Dominion Energy, construction on the CVOW began in the July 2019, and it is speeding along, spearheaded by Danish offshore giant Ørsted Energy, and L.E. Meyers, which is performing onshore electrical design and construction. The CVOW project, in turn, stems from Virginia’s Offshore Wind Technology Assessment Project (VOWTAP), which kicked off in 2014, as part of an effort to advance the U.S. offshore wind industry.
