Saving Seafood

VIRGINIA: Virginia offshore wind project underway as environmental studies continue

June 24, 2024 — As Nature Conservancy marine scientist Brendan Runde motored into the Atlantic Ocean to study fish about 27 miles offshore from Virginia Beach, two 600-foot-tall wind turbines appeared in the distance. They steadily grew on the horizon, until one of them was towering over the comparatively tiny C-Hawk fishing boat Runde steered.

To catch the fish he was there to tag for his study, Runde had to keep the boat right beside the massive pilon — as the equally massive turbine blades swept by overhead.

“There’s 100 or 130 feet between the tip of the blade and the boat, but it doesn’t feel like that much when that thing’s coming down,” Runde said. “So, that’s pretty cool to experience.”

Runde is one of many scientists eager to fill in the remaining knowledge gaps around how the country’s growing offshore wind industry affects the environment. The turbine he was visiting was one of two “demonstration” units built in advance of Dominion Energy’s enormous Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) installation. Its construction got underway in earnest in May after the project received its final federal permit.

Once finished, with an estimated completion date of late 2026, it will be the largest wind energy installation in the U.S., in terms of both size and energy output. Its 176 turbines and three offshore substations will cover 112,800 acres, and it is expected to generate 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power at least 650,000 homes.

The project is in response to Virginia’s Clean Energy Act. The 2020 law demands that Dominion Energy deliver 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045.

“Cutting emissions is important from a climate change perspective,” said Chris Moore, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Virginia executive director. “So, these types of projects can help reduce our impact on Chesapeake Bay resources, improve water quality, and help us meet our Bay goals.”

“I’m not sure that we can’t have it all,” he added. “I think it’s a matter of making sure that we site these things correctly, making sure that we try to reduce our impact on other resources.”

Read the full article at the Bay Journal

Conservative groups cleared to continue legal fight to protect whales from Biden-backed offshore wind farm

June 17, 2024 — A coalition of conservative organizations has standing to continue fighting a Biden administration wind project in Virginia, a federal judge determined.

However, U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the District of Columbia, a Biden appointee, denied the plaintiff’s petition for a preliminary injunction to halt construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project from going forward.

On Thursday, the plaintiffs withdrew a petition for an expedited appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court for a narrow decision on the injunction but will continue the case to stop the construction, one attorney said.

The plaintiffs sued the Biden administration and Dominion Energy to protect the North Atlantic right whale under the Endangered Species Act.

Read the full article at Fox News

Launch of US wind installation vessel masks critical shortage

June 17, 2024 — The launch of the first U.S.-built wind turbine installation vessel (WTIV) in April marked an important milestone for the offshore wind sector. Commissioned by U.S. utility Dominion Energy, the 472-foot ‘Charybdis’ will be fully operational by early 2025 and will first be used to install Dominion’s 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

The Charybdis is a positive step for the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry but several other vessels are needed to fill a widening supply gap that is holding back developers. Slow buildout of U.S. supply chain and port infrastructure and a lack of clarity over leasing and permitting schedules has hampered developers and deterred some investors.

The U.S. needs four-to-six turbine installation vessels to meet the 30 GW offshore wind target set by President Biden for 2030, according to the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Read the full article at Reuters

DC Circuit to hear battle over Virginia offshore wind

June 8, 2024 — Critics of an offshore wind farm in Virginia are taking their fight against the project to a powerful federal appeals court.

In a Wednesday filing, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, Heartland Institute, and National Legal and Policy Center said they are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse a May ruling that denied their bid to block a 176-turbine Dominion Energy wind project off the coast of Virginia Beach.

A lower court found that the challengers had failed to show that they would face irreparable harm if the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project moved forward.

Read the full article at E&E News

Judge denies injunction to halt Virginia offshore wind construction

May 30, 2024 – A federal judge at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia has denied a preliminary injunction filed against Dominion Energy to halt construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Project.

In March, a coalition of three conservative groups filed a lawsuit against the utility company and several federal agencies, claiming the agencies had issued an incomplete biological opinion clearing the project for construction. The agencies were legally obligated to issue a more comprehensive biological opinion, the plaintiffs alleged, assessing the threat Virginia’s offshore wind farm posed to the endangered North Atlantic right whale in conjunction with all the other East Coast offshore wind farms whose operation and installation is now being pursued.

Read the full article at The Center Square

VIRGINIA: Virginia Beach offshore wind farm construction begins

May 26, 2024 — Dominion Energy announced Wednesday that construction officially started at its planned 2.6-gigawatt Virginia Beach offshore wind farm.

The electric company said the Orion heavy lift vessel installed the first wind turbine foundation, a steel tube called a monopile, about 29 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The Orion departed Portsmouth Marine Terminal with the first batch of monopiles last week.

“This is a monumental day for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind team, who have worked tirelessly to keep this project on budget and on schedule to provide our customers with reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy,” Robert M. Blue, Dominion Energy’s chair, president and CEO, said in the announcement.

The planned 176-turbine, $9.8 billion project is expected to provide enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes once completed by the end of 2026.

Read the full article at The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA: Dominion Energy delays construction for Virginia Beach offshore wind farm, says lawsuit won’t affect timeline

May 12, 2024 — Dominion Energy delayed installation of the first batch of offshore wind turbine bases for its Virginia Beach wind farm, but a spokesperson said an ongoing lawsuit will have no impact on the construction timeline.

Installation of the wind turbine monopiles, expected to begin this week, could get underway as soon as next week, said Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton. He said a slight delay in the arrival of an installation support vessel pushed back the start date.

However, Slayton said the Orion, the large ship which will transport and install the monopiles, is ready to go after a bit of required maintenance.

“There have been no changes to our expectations for the 2024 installation season,” Slayton said in a text message.

Read the full article at the Daily Press

Interior defends Virginia offshore wind farm in court

May 7, 2024 — The Biden administration and the developer of a $9.8 billion wind farm off of Virginia Beach, Virginia, assured a federal court Friday that the project has all necessary approvals, amid claims that construction would harm the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

The joint court filing from the Interior Department and Dominion Energy comes in response to a request to halt work on the massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is slated to include 176 turbines and is the largest project of its kind currently under development in the United States.

Dominion and Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management filed their response following an order from Judge Loren AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking clarity on whether NOAA Fisheries — which handles Endangered Species Act consultations for marine life — had approved mitigation plans to protect the vulnerable right whale.

Read the full story at E&E News

VIRGINIA: Dominion Energy says preliminary injunction request not delaying offshore wind construction

May 7, 2024 — The legal battle between Dominion Energy and three organizations opposed to its offshore wind project is heating up.

In March, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), the Heartland Institute, and the National Legal and Policy Center sued Dominion Energy, alleging it hadn’t taken the necessary steps to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale and other marine life during construction. Dominion Energy called the lawsuit “meritless.”

In the latest development, the three organizations requested a preliminary injunction, asking a judge to stop offshore construction before it starts.

A preliminary injunction is a judge-issued order that demands a defendant stop an allegedly harmful activity while a lawsuit progresses. On Monday afternoon, Dominion Energy submitted its response to the preliminary injunction request, calling the move an “eleventh hour attempt” to stop the project.

CFACT president Craig Rucker disagrees. “We need an injunction and a proper study that looks at all the cumulative aspects of these different wind farms,” he said.

Read the full story at 13News Now

Two U.S. Offshore Wind Farms Gear Up for Construction Despite Challenges

May 3, 2024 — Two of the largest U.S. offshore wind farms are moving forward into their construction phase as the industry continues to gain momentum and the federal government looks to add more projects to the pipeline. Dominion Energy confirmed that offshore work will begin next week on the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project while adamantly denying any reports that it has been delayed while in Connecticut the first components for the Revolution Wind project are arriving at the staging point.

“Consistent with the construction schedule, installation of monopiles by the DEME-operated vessel Orion is expected to commence between May 6 and May 8,” Dominion said in a statement issued yesterday. They called media reports and statements by a small group of critics that the project was delayed “false and grossly misrepresent the facts.”

On April 29, anti-wind groups filed a petition in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to delay CVOW construction. Dominion says the critics are “using the same meritless arguments as have already been rejected before by the courts, including last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in relation to an offshore wind project in Massachusetts.”

Read the full story at The Maritime Executive