Qualla: Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Twenty-four nautical miles east of Virginia Beach, in water about a hundred feet deep, the largest offshore wind project under construction in the United States is rising from the Atlantic. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind - CVOW for short - is being built by Dominion Energy across a lease area of 112,800 acres. When complete, its 176 turbines will produce 2.6 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power 660,000 homes. The price tag has climbed past $11 billion, up from an initial estimate of roughly $9.8 billion, with cost increases driven by supply-chain pressures, a federal stop-work order in late 2025, and rising tariffs. Unlike every other major U.S. offshore wind project, CVOW is being built by a state-regulated utility rather than a private developer - which gives Dominion the unusual ability to pass cost changes through to ratepayers. As of early 2025, the project was 50 percent complete and on schedule. As of late 2025, it had also become a political flashpoint. The Trump administration suspended five offshore wind leases on December 22, 2025, citing national security concerns. CVOW, which already had all its permits, sat in the middle of a federal court fight that nobody at the lease auction in 2013 had imagined.

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: The Pilot That Came First

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Before any commercial turbines went up, Dominion built a small pilot project at the edge of the lease area. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind pilot, completed in 2020 in partnership with the Danish energy giant Orsted, featured just two Siemens Gamesa SWT-6.0-154 turbines rated ...

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: Why a Utility Built It

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Most offshore wind projects in the U.S. are developed by private firms that sign fixed-price contracts to sell power. When materials costs rise, those firms eat the loss - which is why several East Coast projects have stalled or canceled in the last three years as turbine prices,...

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: Whales, Turtles, and 330 Feet

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The largest environmental concerns identified in the Final Environmental Impact Statement were commercial fisheries, marine mammals, vessel navigation, and wetlands. The mitigation measures got specific. CVOW vessels must maintain a minimum distance of 330 feet from one another. ...

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: Jobs in Hampton Roads

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Magnum Economics, a Virginia consulting firm, estimated that the construction phase from 2020 to 2026 would create about 900 direct and indirect jobs annually in the Hampton Roads region - around 60 percent of the project's total - producing $57 million in pay and benefits, $143 ...

Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind: The December Suspension

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On December 22, 2025, the U.S. Interior Department suspended five offshore wind leases citing national security concerns. The five were Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind in New York, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island, and CVOW in Virginia. Multiple dev...