Dominion orders 176 turbines from Siemens Gamesa

Dominion Energy Inc. has ordered 176 offshore wind turbines from Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. for its 2.6-gigawatt, $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, the utility announced Monday.

The Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility declined to release financial details of the contract.

The SG 14-222 DD turbines — at more than 800 feet tall, the world’s largest offshore wind turbines in operation — are set to be fully operational in late 2026 and produce up to 14.7 megawatts of power apiece, enough to generate electricity for 660,000 homes. According to Siemens Gamesa, all of the turbines’ parts, including blades that will be created at the company’s forthcoming facility in Portsmouth, will be completed by the first quarter of 2023. Under the contract, the Spanish company also will provide 10 years of service on the turbines, which are expected to last 30 years.

Announced in October, the first U.S.-based offshore wind turbine blade manufacturing plant is expected to create 310 jobs and cost $200 million.

Dominion has been moving swiftly this fall in meeting deadlines for the project set to be built 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. After receiving all components of the turbines next year, Siemens Gamesa expects to begin installing the 176 turbines in 2024, keeping to the utility’s timeline.

In November, Dominion Chairman, President and CEO Bob Blue said during a third-quarter earnings call that the CVOW project will cost approximately $2 billion more than the previously estimated $7.8 billion price tag, due to rising commodities expenses, mounting inflation pressure and onshore infrastructure costs. The utility submitted its application for the project to the Virginia State Corporation Commission on Nov. 5, with a public hearing set for May 17, 2022.

Five major agreements represent about $6.9 billion of the $9.8 billion budget, and the remaining project costs are $1.4 billion for onshore transmission facilities and projected system upgrades and another $1.5 billion for other project costs including contingency onshore transmission facilities necessary to interconnect offshore generation components reliably and to maintain the structural integrity and reliability of the transmission system in compliance with mandatory North American Electric Reliability Cooperation (NERC) standards.

The wind farm will help Virginia reach its target, mandated by the Virginia Clean Economy Act, of having 100% carbon-free energy production by 2045, and Dominion Energy’s goal of net zero carbon and methane emissions by 2050. President Joe Biden’s administration has set a 2030 target to have installed 30,000 megawatts of U.S. offshore wind power capacity.

The prototype of the 14.7-megawatt turbines to be created for CVOW was installed in November in Denmark and is currently producing power, Siemens Gamesa said in its announcement Monday. The company provided the two 6-megawatt turbines currently in use in the pilot project off Virginia Beach, which started in October 2020.