Offshore wind has the potential to provide the largest, scalable renewable resource for Virginia with near-term resource availability of approximately 2,000 megawatts, and potentially up to 3,000 megawatts if it can be achieved at reasonable cost to customers.
Virginia has a unique offshore wind opportunity because of its shallow continental shelf extending nearly 30 miles off the coast, proximity to load centers, availability of local supply chain infrastructure, and world class port facilities.
Additionally, offshore wind resources have a higher production per unit installed than onshore wind resources because winds are typically stronger and more consistent at sea. However, one challenge facing offshore wind development is that it is much more complex and costly to install and maintain than onshore wind and other traditional electric generation facilities.
The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is the lead federal agency in charge of leasing areas for offshore wind development on the outer continental shelf. The BOEM has released a Call for Information and Nominations for lease blocks off of Virginia’s coast.
Dominion Virginia Power is planning to respond to the federal government’s call for interest in building electricity-generating wind turbines in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast. Offshore wind generation holds great promise in the long term as a renewable source of electricity, if it can be achieved at reasonable cost to customers.
BOEM has identified approximately 113,000 acres about 24 miles off the coast of Virginia that could be developed for electricity-generating wind turbines. Dominion plans to express interest formally in developing the offshore parcels.
"Dominion is actively involved today in studies to make offshore wind generation possible off the Virginia coast, and we will respond to this call for information," said Mary Doswell, Dominion's senior vice president for alternative energy solutions. "Offshore wind generation holds great promise as a renewable source of electricity. Our 2010 transmission study says our system can handle the additional megawatts and we are studying ways to address the significant challenge of reducing the possible cost to customers."
"This is a long-term project," Doswell said. "The United States currently lacks offshore wind infrastructure without dedicated ships or supply chain today. So there is a great promise of economic development related to offshore wind generation. The challenge remains the high cost of building this generation and bringing it to customers."
The company is actively participating in offshore wind policy development at the state level in Virginia.
In 2011, the Virginia General Assembly established an aspirational goal of 3,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2025. The Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority (VOWDA) was created through legislation in 2010 to help facilitate offshore wind energy development. The company is represented on VOWDA by an appointee of the Governor.
As required by this legislation, the company completed an offshore wind transmission study to determine possible offshore wind interconnection points to the transmission grid. The study found that it would be possible to interconnect large scale wind generation facilities with the existing grid in Virginia Beach.
Dominion also was awarded a $500,000 grant by the Department of Energy to conduct cost modeling and analysis to demonstrate the impact of innovative concepts on reducing the cost of energy of a hypothetical offshore wind project.
Copyright ©2011 Dominion
