Some Encouraging Clean Energy News; Virginia Offshore Wind Project Ahead of Schedule
What will be America’s new largest offshore wind energy project is running ahead of schedule, and is now expected to be online and providing clean power in March 2026.
Dominion Energy’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project has finished installing all 176 foundations for its wind turbines. The utility now says that it not only expects some completed wind turbines to begin providing power to the grid by the end of March, but it’s also on track to complete the project by the end of 2026.
Clean Energy Economy, Reliable Power
Bipartisan supporters of CVOW in Virginia tell members of Congress that it is not only vital to their state’s economy, but also important to providing reliable power to its naval bases. Republicans Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans continue to actively pitch the project’s value to members of Congress and the Trump Administration. So far, it hasn’t drawn the direct opposition of the fanatically anti-wind president. “I always speak about that project in light of the national security benefit and that benefit to Naval Air Station Oceana,” Kiggans said last month in an interview with Virginia news station WAVY, noting that a partnership with Dominion is “giving Naval Air Station Oceana a $500 million power grid upgrade.”
“The project has already created 2,000 direct and indirect American jobs and generated $2 billion in economic activity, strengthening the nation’s manufacturing supply chains and our regional economy,” said Katharine Kollins, president of Southeastern Wind Coalition.
As CVOW comes online and begins providing clean, reliable power, it will become even clearer how foolish the effort to stop offshore wind energy has become. Perhaps even Duke Energy – which cravenly abandoned its inclusion of offshore wind in its latest “carbon plan” – may begin to look north with envy at its rival utility’s nation-leading wind facility.
