The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Sept. 25 it has completed the environmental review of Dominion Energy’s planned 2.6-gigawatt (GW) Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, marking a regulatory milestone for the largest offshore wind project being developed in the U.S.

With 176 wind turbines each holding a capacity of 14.7 megawatts, the project—located on a 112,800-acre commercial lease area off Virginia Beach—is expected to produce enough electricity for 660,000 Virginia homes, Dominion Energy said.

project map
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind lease map. (Source: BOEM)

A notice of availability for the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed project will publish in the Federal Register on Sept. 29. The final EIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of activities in the project’s construction and operations plan, BOEM said. The final EIS is available on BOEM’s website.

BOEM’s record of decision on whether to approve the project is expected this fall.

“Today’s announcement reinforces the confidence that the company, our vendors and our suppliers have in our project’s completion, providing further motivation to maintain focus on delivering on time and on budget knowing we and our government partners continue to meet critical milestones,” Dominion Energy CEO Bob Blue said.

Completion of the environmental review comes as the U.S. aims to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030. Earlier this month, BOEM completed environmental analysis for the proposed Empire Wind Farm project being jointly developed offshore New York by Equinor and BP. The project includes Empire Wind 1 with up to 57 wind turbines and Empire Wind 2 with up to 90 wind turbines, together generating about 2 GW of renewable energy.

Offshore