Green energy company Ørsted has completed installation of the first of two offshore wind turbines at the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) farm.
The Siemens Gamesa 6 MW unit is the first to be installed in US federal waters and is due to be operational by the end of 2020.
Thomas Brostrøm, President of Ørsted North America said on LinkedIn that its installation marked a “monumental day for the US offshore wind industry”.
CVOW is being developed by an Ørsted-Dominion Energy joint venture 27 miles off the coast of Virginia. It was the first offshore wind energy project to receive approval from the US Bureau of Offshore Energy Management (BOEM), the agency that oversees energy projects in federal waters.
Ørsted is supporting the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work for CVOW and Dominion Energy will remain the sole owner of the turbines. Once complete, CVOW will become the first offshore wind project in the Mid-Atlantic and the second in the nation.
Dominion plans to expand CVOW to 2.4 GW. It started conducting seabed surveys in the lease area in April and is aiming to submit plans to BOEM later this year.
