Virginia Project is Giant U.S. Win for Euro Offshore Wind Turbine Maker

Virginia will build this year a 12-MW offshore wind pilot project off Virginia Beach coast in advance of planned 2.6-GW megafarm. Image: Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority

Virginia utility Dominion Energy has selected Spain-based Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy to provide turbines for its proposed 2,600-MW offshore wind farm to be located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, so far America's largest planned project, and projected to cost $7.8 billion

The firm, a Spanish-German joint venture, was chosen based on a combination of cost, performance and proven track record as one of the world’s leading suppliers, said Dominion, an investor-owned utility that is developing the megaproject itself.

Under the agreement, Siemens Gamesa will provide Dominion’s offshore wind farm with the latest turbine technology. although the machine capacity and number won't be determined until the latter part of the early development stage.

The three-phase project will be developed in in three 880-MW phases, set to come on line in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

Ocean survey work will begin this year and Dominion plans to submit its construction and operations plan to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management later this year.

Dominion began construction last summer on a 12-MW offshore wind pilot with Denmark-based developer Orsted using two 6-MW Siemens Gamesa turbines that will will be installed in the spring, with the project iset to come online later this year. The pilot is the initial step in permitting, designing and building the larger commercial offshore wind project, Dominion said.

The pilot received two critical federal permits for facility design and fabrication and installation last October. In September, Dominion filed an application with PJM, the regional transmission organization that coordinates the electrical grid for Virginia and parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia, to connect the full 2,600-MW offshore wind development

Siemens Gamesa is competing with another European turbine maker, MH1 Vestas, and U.S.-based GE Renewables to supply the growing East coast U.S. offshore wind marketplace,

Mary B. Powers has reported on engineering and construction issues in the global energy and environmental sectors for more than 30 years from Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Ala. She formerly wrote for the Platt's group of energy sector publications under McGraw Hill and S&P Global that included Inside Energy and Megawatt Daily, and was state editor for the Lexington, Ky., Herald Leader. Mary has a master’s degree in journalism from The American University.

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