Wind energy projects continue despite federal headwinds

Despite cost increases, legal challenges, tariff uncertainty and President Donald Trump‘s dogged opposition to wind energy, Dominion Energy‘s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is on track to begin powering 660,000 homes in late 2026.

Construction on the 2.6-gigawatt project 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast was 60% complete as of late July. According to Dominion spokesman Jeremy Slayton, 123 of the 176 monopile foundations have been installed, as well as 59 of the 176 transition pieces which connect the foundations to the turbine towers. The first turbine components, including tower sections, nacelles and blades, arrived at Portsmouth Marine Terminal this summer in preparation for construction of the first turbines later this year.

In addition, the first of three offshore substations has been installed, along with 98% of the deepwater offshore export cables and about 26% of the near-shore offshore export cables. Onshore overhead transmission work was completed this summer, while the underground infrastructure will be finished late this year. Both onshore and offshore cables will be installed in early 2026.

However, Trump’s tariffs on imported materials compelled the Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility to readjust CVOW’s expected $10.7 billion cost; if current tariffs continue through construction, Dominion expects about $500 million in added costs.

The price hike follows a 9% upsurge from $9.8 billion earlier this year due to higher onshore electrical connection costs and network upgrades assigned by regional electric grid operator PJM.

A long-time opponent of wind energy, Trump issued an executive order in January that froze new offshore wind leases in federal waters and directed the Department of the Interior to review wind projects’ environmental impacts and the economic effects of intermittent electric generation. The order did not affect CVOW, which completed the federal approval process during the Biden administration.

But in August, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management halted work on a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut that was nearly complete, and the U.S. Department of Transportation withdrew nearly $40 million awarded to the Norfolk Offshore Wind Logistics Port in 2023.

CVOW has also faced resistance from conservative interest groups that filed a lawsuit in late 2023 against Dominion and federal agencies that approved the project’s permitting. They contend that federal regulators did not adequately assess potential environmental impacts to marine life.
In June, a federal judge ruled that the parties had until late September to decide if they wished to proceed with legal action.

Ripple effects

Matt Smith, director of energy and emerging technologies for the Hampton Roads Alliance, does not think the lawsuit will impede CVOW, noting that the project underwent a rigorous, multiyear environmental review process with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that Trump’s executive order has caused uncertainty in the offshore wind industry and could delay Dominion’s second offshore wind project, a 40,000-acre lease off the coast of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Dominion purchased the site from Avangrid Renewables for $160 million last year.

Smith adds that some foreign manufacturers have scaled back plans to invest in offshore winds while waiting for the ambiguous trade situation to play out.

“It causes companies to pause or rethink how quickly they will invest in the U.S.,” he says. “You can’t expect people to invest half a billion dollars if there is uncertainty about the business climate.”

However, LS GreenLink USA, a subsidiary of South Korean undersea cable manufacturer LS Cable & Systems, remains committed to building a $681 million plant in Chesapeake that will manufacture underwater electrical cables for offshore wind projects. The company broke ground in April on the 750,000-square-foot facility on the Southern Branch Elizabeth River. It is expected to be finished in late 2027 and fully operational in early 2028, with more than 330 full-time employees.

Patrick Y. Shim, the company’s managing director, says LS GreenLink USA is attracting business globally. “We are already filling up our order book into the 2030s,” he notes. “Most of our orders are coming from Europe. We are also talking with many customers from Latin America.”

Cables produced at the facility can be used for inter-connection projects as well as for offshore wind. Future expansion plans include land cables.

LS GreenLink USA’s investment is one of the biggest industry investments in Hampton Roads in the last two decades, notes Smith.

“It validates that we are one of the best places to invest and build out the domestic supply chain,” he says. “Other companies will see that we have sites ready and available and the leadership and regional partners here to assist companies in making their decisions.”