Best of the Best Winners
From Generation to Connection—Ocean-to-Land Wind Power Megaproject Innovates
The first of 176 Siemens Gamesa wind energy turbines for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, each 14.7 MW in capacity and located about 25 miles at sea, was installed in January, and will soon send 2.6 GW of power to users through an innovative electric conduit and cable system
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Landfalls and Trenchless Crossing
Virginia Beach, Va.
Energy/Industrial
Submitted by: Michels Corp.
Region: ENR Mid-Atlantic
Owner: Dominion Energy Virginia
General Contractor: Wilson Construction Co.
Subcontractors: Behrens & Associates; J.D. Hair & Associates; Haley & Aldrich Inc.; Herrenknecht; In-Terra Innovations; Michels Construction Inc.; Michels Pipeline Inc.; Michels Trenchless Inc.
At all its construction stages so far, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind energy project has been a unique undertaking—with significant design and construction innovation used to build 176 wind turbines and three substations 27 miles off the state coast, as well as other power connecting systems in an environmentally sensitive marine area. Soon, 2.6 GW of new capacity will send power from sea to 660,000 users on land—the largest such array of clean energy delivery in the U.S.
Contractor Michels used its patented underground cable installation system to avoid deeper drilling on the sensitive marine site, seen here and in photos below .Photo courtesy Michels Corp.
Linking its offshore generation to onshore transmission is a particularly critical, complex and scrutinized component. To build trenchless crossings for electrical conduits at landfall sites to house offshore power cables through the area, the team used Michels Corp.’s patented Direct Pipe system. It enabled installations from the beach into the Atlantic Ocean seabed without typical deeper horizontal directional drilling needed to avoid drilling fluid leaks and risks to cable power ampacity. The ten Direct Pipe installations are the most completed at one time on one project globally, the team says.
Photo courtesy Michels Corp.
The project’s location in a military reserve required equipment and personnel evacuation for one month in five-month intervals. “The project team was able to complete the project on time by planning the work around these shutdowns,” the submission says, despite time-limited availability of the specialized vessel to install cable inside the conduits and other measures needed to compensate for a higher-than-anticipated water table and treatment required after unanticipated discovery of PFAS contaminants.
Photo courtesy Michels Corp.
“A new industry standard was set by running three spreads of Direct Pipe crew and equipment simultaneously on a 24-hour basis to meet the schedule,” the team says. The project also set strict qualification criteria for key skilled workers such as steel pipe welders and [high-density polyethylene] pipe fusors, and used nondestructive testing.
Despite supply chain pressures, tariffs and a one-month federal construction pause in late 2025-early 2026 that boosted CVOW's cost to $11.5 billion, owner Dominion Energy said Feb. 23 that the project is nearly 75% finished and is expected to generate its first energy this month, eventually powering up to 660,000 homes
"Offshore wind is critical to our diverse, all-of-the-above generation mix to keep the lights on for our customers with affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean energy," CEO Robert Blue said in a social media post.
