Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Dominion vessel to assist in building Northeastern offshore wind farms

Dominion Energy Inc. has reached an agreement with two companies to charter its offshore wind turbine installation vessel to assist with construction of two offshore wind farms in the Northeastern U.S.

The partnership with Ørsted and Eversource was announced Tuesday and comes six months after Dominion announced construction had begun on the $500 million vessel, named Charybdis after the sea monster from Greek mythology.

It will be the nation’s first offshore wind vessel in compliance with the Jones Act, which requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be carried on U.S.-flagged, U.S.-built ships. Charybdis will be 472 feet long, 184 feet wide, 38 feet deep and will be made of 14,000 tons of steel, with nearly 10,000 tons sourced from the U.S. The vessel can hold up to 119 people, including somewhere between 20 and 30 maritime crew and 30 to 100 wind turbine workers, depending on the vessel’s mission at the time.

“A Jones Act-qualified installation vessel is a game changer for the development of the U.S. offshore wind industry,” said David Hardy, CEO of Ørsted Offshore North America, in a statement. “This investment will enable us to unlock the economic benefits of offshore wind, not just for the Northeast, but for the Southern states as well. We’re proud to partner with Dominion Energy and Eversource on this historic milestone.”

The $500 million watercraft, Charybdis, is expected to be sea-ready by late 2023, and will be responsible for carrying materials and assisting in the construction of offshore wind farms.

It will first be deployed out of New London harbor in Connecticut to support the construction of Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, both under joint development by Ørsted and Eversource, according to Dominion’s release.

The projects are set to serve nearly one million homes in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York. Once complete, the two farms will generate more than 1.6 gigawatts of energy.

The charter’s terms will allow the vessel, subject to state regulatory approval, to also support construction of Dominion Energy’s proposed $7.8 billion, 2.6 gigawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The farm is expected to be completed by 2026.

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will support roughly 900 jobs, with about 60% in Hampton Roads, leading to more than $143 million in economic output. Once construction is completed in 2027, more than 1,100 workers in Hampton Roads would operate and maintain the wind farm. That could translate into $210 million in economic output for the region, generating nearly $6 million in local tax revenue, according to Dominion.

 

(Solar) powering the economy

A 700-acre solar farm on a former surface mine outside of Hurley will be more than it appears, according to Adam Edelen.

“Buchanan County and the entire region of Southwestern Virginia intends to benefit from the digital economy rather than be a victim of it,” says Edelen, CEO of Edelen Renewables.

Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Edelen’s company has partnered with Savion, a Kansas City-based solar developer involved in 156 projects in 28 states, including five in Virginia, but this is Edelen’s first collaboration with Savion in the commonwealth.

With groundbreaking set for 2023, the $100 million, 75-megawatt solar farm will generate about $100,000 in annual tax revenue for Buchanan County, create about six permanent jobs and 250 construction jobs. Edelen says there will be a “heavy focus on hiring local.” He plans for workers to finish the yearlong job with “an academic credential that will certify them as utility-scale solar installers.”

The largest anticipated economic impact is the business the solar farm might attract.

“Access to green energy is a precondition for modern economic development,” Edelen says. “To be relevant to the opportunities of the digital economy, you have to have clean energy.”

Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, agrees. “That’s clearly where the national and global economy, [the] energy economy, is headed.”

In this case, the new energy economy will be sharing space with the old.

“They will actually be installing solar panels while they’re still mining coal,” says Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell, whom Kentucky-based CM Mining asked to help arrange the project. The company also plans to put several thousand mined acres in a conservation easement. Morefield calls it “one of the country’s first mining operations that is not only mining coal, but they’re making efforts to reduce the carbon footprint.”

Surface mines and solar farms have considerable overlap in infrastructure: high-capacity transmission lines; access to roads and rail lines; and flat land, according to Edelen. Surface mines require the first two and create the third.

Government support helps, too.

“Virginia has done a better job than almost any state in the entire United States in envisioning a renewable energy future,” Edelen says. That support runs from the county to the General Assembly and across party lines, he says. “Green energy isn’t partisan. It’s just smart.” ν

AES to provide carbon-free power for Google’s Loudoun data centers

As part of Google LLC’s ambitious “moonshot” to produce all of its energy from carbon-free sources, Arlington-based The AES Corp. announced Tuesday that it has signed a 10-year agreement to provide carbon-free power for Google’s data centers in Loudoun County.

A Fortune 500 international electrical utility, AES will provide 90% of the Google data centers’ power from zero carbon emission sources, measured on an hourly basis, beginning later this year. The agreement is part of a Google initiative to run its operations on 100% carbon-free power on an hourly basis by 2030. Google has two major data centers in Loudoun currently, with a third under construction.

To provide energy for the data centers, AES is assembling a 500 MW portfolio of wind, solar, hydro and battery storage sources from a combination of AES-owned renewable energy projects as well as projects contracted from third-party energy developers. The amount of the contract was not disclosed but AES said it expects to invest $600 million in the project, creating 1,200 jobs, both permanent and construction-related, in the communities generating the power.

On April 20, for Earth Day, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai announced that five of the company’s data centers in Denmark, Finland, Iowa, Oklahoma and Oregon were now operating near or at 90% carbon-free energy. “Within a decade we aim for every Google data center, cloud region, and office campus to run on clean electricity every hour of every day,” Pichai wrote in a company blog post. “Our carbon-free goal is as ambitious as other moonshots like building a quantum computer or developing a self-driving car. I’ve never been more optimistic about our collective ability — as governments, companies and individuals — to come together and chart a more sustainable path forward for our planet. We’ll continue to lead by example in our operations, support our partners, and build helpful products to build a carbon-free future for all.”

“Last year, Google set an ambitious sustainability goal of committing to 100% 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. Today, we are proud that through our collaboration with Google, we are making 24/7 carbon-free energy a reality for their data centers in Virginia,” AES President and CEO Andrés Gluski said in a statement. “This first-of-its-kind solution, which we co-created with Google, will set a new sustainability standard for companies and organizations seeking to eliminate carbon from their energy supply.”

Google and AES formed a strategic alliance in 2019 to leverage Google Cloud technology in clean energy efforts.

Michael Terrell, Director of Energy at Google, said, “Not only is this partnership with AES an important step towards achieving Google’s 24/7 carbon-free energy goal, it also lays a blueprint for other companies looking to decarbonize their own operations. Our hope is that this model can be replicated to accelerate the clean energy transition, both for companies and, eventually, for power grids.”

With $9.66 billion in 2020 revenue, AES is one of the world’s largest power utilities, generating and distributing electricity in 15 nations across North America, South America, Europe and Asia. It employs more than 10,500 people worldwide.

 

 

Appalachian Power issues RFP for solar, wind projects

Appalachian Power Co. on Monday issued a request for proposals (RFPs) for up to 300 megawatts of solar and/or wind generation resources. 

This is the first in a string of RFPs that the company will issue this year to comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires that the company achieve 100% carbon-free energy generation in its Virginia service territory by 2050.

“This is Appalachian Power’s largest request yet in a single year for renewable energy bids,” Appalachian Power President and Chief Operating Officer Chris Beam said in a statement. “We look forward to reviewing the proposals and issuing more requests for bids later this year as we expand our portfolio and reliance on clean energy.”

Under the RFP, Appalachian Power may consider a single project or multiple facilities. Solar projects must be located in Virginia, while wind projects don’t have to be located in Virginia, but it is preferred. 

Appalachian Power is seeking facilities of at least 50 megawatts that can be commercially operational by mid-December 2023. Proposals with an operational date by Dec. 15, 2024, will still be considered, however.

Proposals must be submitted by March 31.

Appalachian Power has more 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. Last year, the company sought a rate increase from the State Corporation Commission, which was denied in November 2020. The company was seeking to increase rates by approximately $10 per month for a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

 

Dominion files construction, operations plan for $7.8B offshore wind farm

Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc. announced Friday it has filed the required construction and operations plan (COP) with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to build the utility’s proposed $7.8 billion, 2,640-megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.

“This is an important step in the process toward bringing commercial-scale offshore wind to the commonwealth and shows Dominion Energy is committed to delivering the clean, renewable and reliable energy our customers expect from us,” Joshua Bennett, Dominion Energy’s vice president of offshore wind, said in a statement. “We look forward to working with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as the CVOW commercial project moves through the permitting process.”

Under the CVOW project, Dominion will erect 180 to 190 wind turbines, each 800 feet tall, 27 miles off the Coast of Virginia beach by 2026. When complete, the project will be capable providing enough to power 660,000 homes during peak winds. Construction is expected to begin in 2024.

Dominion announced on Dec. 16 that construction has begun on its oceangoing vessel, the Charybdis, which will ferry construction materials and workers for the project, as well as assisting with installing and raising the wind farm’s turbines.

The COP includes construction, operations and conceptual decommissioning information and plans for the wind farm to be installed within the 112,800-acre commercial lease area off the coast of Virginia Beach, which Dominion Energy acquired rights to in 2013. 

In the COP filing, Dominion states that it designed and sited the CVOW project in a manner that protects natural resources, the environment and human and wildlife health, citing survey data. Dominion also states that the project does not interfere with other uses of the outer continental shelf, such as commercial and recreational fishing, commercial shipping lanes and military training exercises.

In October, Dominion announced that its two turbine, 12-megawatt, $300 million CVOW pilot project successfully completed reliability testing.

The entire CVOW commercial project is tracking to start being constructed in 2024 and completed in 2026. At its completion, it will provide enough energy for up to 660,000 homes.

During the next six years, construction on Dominion’s proposed offshore wind farm expansion will create an estimated 900 jobs and $143 million in economic impact annually during construction and 1,100 jobs and almost $210 million in economic impact annually during operation of the turbines. 

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Amazon announces investment in two more solar farms in Halifax County

Part of a global renewable energy purchase, Amazon.com Inc. announced Thursday it will invest in two more Halifax County solar farms, in addition to a deal announced in March that is expected to come online in 2021.

The two new solar farms, which are expected to provide 70 megawatts and 51 megawatts of power by 2022, according to an Amazon map, are located in Powell’s Creek, in the southern part of the county, and Sunnybrook, northeast of South Boston. The projects will be the 13th and 14th Amazon solar farms in Virginia; others under development and in operation are in Accomack, Buckingham, Frederick, Gloucester, New Kent, Pittsylvania, Powhatan, Prince George, Southampton and Sussex counties.

Halifax County supervisors approved the Sunnybrook and Powell’s Creek projects in April 2018. Both projects were submitted by developer Carolina Solar Energy, a Durham, North Carolina-based solar company. Amazon invested in a 65-megawatt solar project in South Boston in March, with the global online retailer saying the project will provide renewable energy capacity to the grids that supply its data centers.

Amazon announced 26 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects around the world, including Australia, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S. on Thursday, expanding its 2020 renewable energy investment to 35 projects offering more than 4 gigawatts of capacity. The company says it’s the largest corporate investment in renewable energy in a single year.

Amazon has pledged to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025 and to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The company currently holds a total of 127 renewable energy projects worldwide.

“Amazon is helping fight climate change by moving quickly to power our businesses with renewable energy,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This is just one of the many steps we’re taking that will help us meet our climate pledge. I couldn’t be more proud of all the teams across Amazon that continue to work hard, smart and fast to get these projects up and running.”

Amazon’s footprint in Virginia has expanded significantly in the past two years, with the 2018 announcement that it would establish its East Coast headquarters in Arlington County. Amazon HQ2 is expected to employ 25,000 people by 2030. Currently, the e-tailer is one of the top 10 employers in Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and it employs about 18,500 people across the commonwealth, where it has 10 fulfillment and sortation center and delivery stations, as well as data centers and operations facilities in the works in Hampton Roads.

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Dominion proposes nine new solar projects

Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc. proposed a new slate of projects on Monday that would bring nearly 500 megawatts of solar energy to Virginia customers, enough to power around 125,000 homes at peak output.

The proposal, which the utility called “its largest slate yet of new solar projects” in a statement, was submitted for approval by the State Corporation Commission and follows the enactment of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which was signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam in April.

Six of the nine new solar projects would generate 416 megawatts of energy at peak output through power purchase agreements that Dominion said followed “a competitive solicitation process”; power purchase agreements are contracts between two parties where one generates electricity and another buys it. According to Dominion, this approach contributes to Virginia’s clean energy economy and fulfills a VCEA requirement of having approximately a third of new solar and onshore wind be procured through power purchase agreements through 2035.

The other three proposed solar projects are utility-owned. Dominion says they are expected to provide over $100 million in direct and indirect economic benefits in Virginia and support approximately 750 jobs. These projects are Grassfield Solar in Chesapeake, Norge Solar in James City County and Sycamore Solar in Pittsylvania County. Each of the facilities is under development and subject to approval by the State Corporation Commission before construction begins.

Grassfield Solar, which was acquired from Solar Access Development Group LLC and Blue Green Energy LLC, would provide 20 MW at peak output. Norge Solar, which was acquired from Clearway Energy Group, would provide 20 MW at peak output. Sycamore Solar, which was acquired from a joint venture between Open Road Renewables LLC and MAP Energy LLC, would provide 42 MW at peak output.

If approved, Dominion says the solar projects would add less than 20 cents to the typical residential electricity bill and be offset in part by fuel savings. The utility says these resources will help it meet the VCEA’s mandatory renewable portfolio standard, which generally requires that 100% of its electricity sales in Virginia be sourced from clean energy resources by 2045.

“This filing is another concrete step toward our commitment to bring more renewable energy to Virginia and build a clean, sustainable future for our customers and our Commonwealth,” said Ed Baine, president of Dominion Energy in Virginia. “We are focused on adding significant renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind, over the next 15 years while maintaining our commitment to excellent reliability and delivering an excellent value to our customers.”

Ken Schrad, spokesman for the SCC, said that two recent solar build cases took about six months from the date of application to receive a final order, and that a solar purchase power agreement case took about four months from the date of application to the final order. After a first review by the SCC commission, a scheduling order is issued after about 30 days that lays out the timeline for the case.

Tim Cywinski, spokesman for the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, said that implementing solar developments are generally positive, while stressing the need for oversight of Dominion.

“If implemented with an emphasis on accessibility, solar energy will benefit our health by reducing pollution, our wallets by reducing electric bills, our climate by replacing fossil fuels, and our economy by creating jobs,” he said. “With Dominion’s history of overcharging its captive customers, equitable state oversight by the SCC is paramount.”

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Va., Md., N.C. governors sign offshore wind collaboration

The governors of Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina on Thursday announced a three-state collaboration to advance offshore wind projects — the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Transformative Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Resources.

SMART-POWER will work to promote the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions as a hub for offshore wind energy and industry. The three states will work together to promote, develop and expand offshore wind energy as well as industry supply chains and workforce. 

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the Atlantic Coast offshore wind project pipeline will support up to 86,000 jobs, $57 billion in investments and provide up to $25 billion in economic output by 2030.

“Harnessing the power of offshore wind is key to meeting the urgency of the climate crisis and achieving 100% clean energy by 2050,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said in a statement. “Virginia is well-positioned to scale up offshore wind development with a 12-megawatt wind demonstration project already built off our coast. This agreement will help unlock our collective offshore wind resources and generate tremendous economic and environmental benefits for the region. We look forward to working with our partners in Maryland and North Carolina to grow the offshore wind industry and secure a cleaner, healthier, and more resilient future.”

Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina will form a leadership team composed of representatives from each signatory jurisdiction who will work to streamline regional offshore wind resource development.

“This bipartisan agreement with neighboring states allows us to leverage our combined economic power and ideas to achieve cost effective success,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Under the SMART-POWER agreement, the three states will work to increase regulatory certainty, encourage manufacturing of component costs, reduce costs via supply chain development, share best practices and develop relationship between industry and and the signatory jurisdictions.

“Joining this multistate partnership to expand offshore wind development will further our strong record of supporting responsible energy projects that provide jobs, clean air benefits, and energy independence,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement. 

Virginia is emerging as a leader in offshore wind technology, with the $300 million, two-turbine Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project launched this summer by Dominion Energy Inc., 27 miles off Virginia Beach. In October, the company announced it had successfully completed reliability testing. The pilot is just the first stage in Dominion’s plan to build the largest offshore wind farm in the nation, with 180 to 190 turbines planned to be erected in federal waters off Virginia’s coast by 2026. When complete, the $7.8 billion project is expected to generate 2,600 megawatts of zero-carbon electricity, enough to power 650,000 homes during peak winds.

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Energy

Blue

ROBERT M. ‘BOB’ BLUE

PRESIDENT AND CEO, DOMINION ENERGY INC., RICHMOND

In October, Blue takes over as Dominion’s president and CEO, though he’ll still answer to his predecessor, Thomas Farrell II, who’s taking on the title of executive chair.

Blue joined Dominion in 2005, serving in various leadership roles, including, most recently, as executive vice president and co-chief operating officer. He also served as president of Dominion Energy Virginia, with 2.6 million customer accounts. He has led Dominion’s efforts to build the nation’s largest offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, as well as Dominion’s investments in solar energy and its partnership with Smithfield Foods to convert methane from hog waste into natural gas. Blue was also president and CEO of Dominion’s power delivery business unit until 2017.

A graduate of the University of Virginia and Yale Law School, Blue holds a master’s degree in business administration from U.Va.’s Darden School of Business. He sits on U.Va.’s board of visitors and is also a trustee for the Virginia Health Care Foundation. From 2002 to 2005, he served as counselor and director of policy for Gov. Mark Warner.


THOMAS F. FARRELL II

Farrell. Portrait courtesy Mark Mitchell

EXECUTIVE CHAIR, DOMINION ENERGY INC., RICHMOND

One of the most prominent business leaders in Virginia, Farrell has led the Fortune 500 power and energy company since 2006 and is also one of the highest-paid executives in his industry, making about $15 million annually. Under his leadership, Dominion, with more than $13 billion in annual revenues, has tripled its philanthropic giving and come close to doubling its earnings per share.

July was an eventful month for the utility, with Farrell announcing he was passing his responsibilities as president and CEO to Robert Blue. Dominion also completed construction on the first offshore wind farm in federal waters, part of an effort to meet a state mandate to generate 100% of Virginia’s electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045. And Dominion walked away from its plans to build the controversial $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline and sold its natural gas transmission and storage assets in a $9.7 billion deal, with Farrell saying Dominion was narrowing its focus to its utilities business.

Earlier this summer, Dominion made $40 million in commitments towards racial equity, including supporting social justice nonprofits and historically black colleges and universities.

Farrell chairs the board of directors for the state-funded GO Virginia economic development initiative. He’s also chairman of the board of directors for Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer Altria Group Inc.


Gluski

ANDRÉS R. GLUSKI

PRESIDENT AND CEO, AES CORP., ARLINGTON

When Gluski took the reins of the Fortune 500 global power company in 2011, 60% of its power generation operations were fueled by coal. But Gluski began an aggressive push toward producing more sustainable and greener energy in the 14 countries AES serves.

Gluski has reduced AES’s coal generating power to 30%, and by 2022, he expects to have halved the company’s carbon footprint from its 2016 levels. Simultaneously, he has increased the company’s credit rating, initiated a quarterly dividend, which has grown at an 8% annual rate, and overseen more than 5,000 megawatts of new power generation, while vastly expanding the company’s use of battery storage capacity, wind and solar energy.

“The basic want-to-do-good DNA of this company made this easier,” Gluski told Forbes magazine in December 2019.

Raised in Venezuela, where he was director general of public finance for the Ministry of Finance, Gluski earned his master’s and doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia. He serves as chairman for the Council of the Americas’ board of directors.


Kibler

JIM KIBLER

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN COMPANY GAS; PRESIDENT*, VIRGINIA NATURAL GAS INC., VIRGINIA BEACH

Kibler oversees the delivery of natural gas to almost 300,000 customers in southeastern Virginia, a customer base that continues to swell.

Lately, Virginia Natural Gas has been working to gain approval from the State Corporation Commission for its controversial $346 million Header Improvement Project, which would connect pipeline infrastructure in Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads. It has until Dec. 31 to fulfill a raft of SCC requirements. Though it’s been met with opposition from landowners and environmentalists, Virginia Natural Gas says the project will upgrade the state’s natural gas infrastructure and provide a reliable method for meeting the region’s growing energy needs.

The civic-minded Kibler serves on the boards of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Mead Endowment at the University of Virginia. He also sits on the GO Virginia Region 5 Council and is vice rector of the board of visitors at Radford University.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Kibler holds a law degree, with honors, from the University of Richmond.

*Editor’s Note: Kibler announced his retirement after the Virginia 500 went to press. As of Sept. 4, former Virginia Natural Gas President Robert Duvall will take his place as president.


Leopold

DIANE LEOPOLD

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, DOMINION ENERGY INC., RICHMOND

Leopold landed her first job in the energy industry as a power plant engineer because she was willing to climb 500-foot smokestacks. Her career since has reached even loftier heights.

In October, Leopold will become the company’s sole chief operating officer, responsible for all the company’s operating segments. She previously served as executive vice president and co-COO, overseeing Dominion Energy South Carolina (with 1.1 million customers) and the company’s gas distribution segment. She’s also responsible for its gas transmission and storage division, which is being sold to a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary by the end of 2020.

A graduate of the University of Sussex in England, she holds a master’s degree in engineering from George Washington University and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Leopold joined Dominion in 1995, holding a number of executive roles. She is chair of the American Gas Association and serves on the board of trustees at Virginia Union University. She also serves on the boards of Markel Corp. and the GO Virginia Foundation.

And Leopold still isn’t afraid of reaching new heights. She has made more than 450 skydiving jumps, and, a few years ago, even rappelled down a 20-story building in downtown Richmond to raise money for the United Way. “I’ve learned to embrace the journey just as much as the reward,” she says.


Westerbeek

KRAIG WESTERBEEK

SENIOR DIRECTOR, SMITHFIELD RENEWABLES, SMITHFIELD FOODS INC., SMITHFIELD

As the point man for the world’s largest pork producer’s ambitious goal to lower its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2025, Westerbeek is tackling the problem of methane gas released by manure at the many hog farms that supply the ham and bacon for which Smithfield is famous. Methane is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it is responsible for as much as 40% of Smithfield’s carbon footprint.

Westerbeek has helped Smithfield engage 80% of its grain supply chain in efficient fertilizer and soil health practices, but perhaps even more crucially, he has been overseeing an aggressive effort to harness the energy of methane now being released into the atmosphere.

He is a leader in Align Renewable Natural Gas, a $500 million joint venture between Smithfield and Dominion Energy to convert methane from Smithfield’s hog farms into saleable natural gas. The enterprise is projected to remove about 105,000 metric tons of methane annually, the equivalent of taking half a million cars off the road.

A North Carolina State University graduate, Westerbeek began working for Smithfield in 1993 as an environmental technician. He was most recently vice president for environment, engineering and support services for Smithfield’s hog production division in North Carolina.

 

Subscribe to Virginia Business.

Get our daily e-newsletter.

Offshore wind components headed from Europe

Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc. and Denmark-based Ørsted A/S announced Tuesday that major components of its $300 million Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) pilot project are being shipped to North America — which is on-schedule, despite the pandemic.

Major components for the two, massive 6-megawatt Siemens Gamesa offshore wind turbines from Denmark and Germany are en route via cargo ship to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The turbines will be 600 feet tall when measured from the ocean’s surface to the tip of the top blade — or taller than the Washington Monument — and will be able to power 3,000 homes at peak production, according to Dominion.

Construction is expected to begin later this spring and the turbines are scheduled to be in operation by the end of the year.

Dominion selected the Spanish renewable energy engineering company in January as the preferred turbine supplier for its offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. Construction for the pilot project began in June 2019, when Dominion broke ground on an onshore power substation for the turbines near Camp Pendleton.

“This is a monumental step toward the installation of the first offshore wind turbines in federal waters, which will deliver clean, renewable energy to our customers,” Mark D. Mitchell, Dominion vice president of generation construction, said in a statement. 

The pilot project is the first phase in Dominion’s plan, announced in September 2019, to build a $7.8 billion, 220-turbine wind farm off the Virginia Beach coastline by 2026. The wind farm, which would be the largest in the U.S., is part of Dominion’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon dioxide and methane emissions from its electricity generation and gas infrastructure operations by 2050. The entire project would produce enough zero-carbon electricity to power 650,000 Virginia homes.

Dominion this month is also conducting ocean surveys to map the seabed of the 112,800-acre lease area to determine impacts to ocean and sea life and develop the project’s Construction and Operations Plan to be submitted to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).