US's largest offshore wind farm gets environmental approval
US's largest offshore wind farm gets environmental approval | Windpower Monthly
US utility Dominion Energy is one step closer to completing the permitting process for its 2.6GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (CVOW) after it secured a key approval for the 176-turbine project.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gave the project a favourable record of decision, and is now due to approve its construction and operations plan (COP) in January.
BOEM’s record of decision summarises findings of environmental reviews and lists actions Dominion must take to minimise impacts to marine life, as well as to nature and communities onshore.
Dominion also still needs to secure final permitting approvals at state and federal level. COP approval would enable Dominion to start offshore construction of the project’s 176 turbines and three substations.
The utility is due to start onshore construction later this year and aims to fully commission CVOW in 2026.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.