Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has been named as the preferred WTG supplier for the 2640 MW Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind project, the largest such project to date in the rapidly increasing US market. A long-term service and maintenance agreement is included for the site located off the coast of Virginia. It is anticipated that the WTGs will come from Siemens’ direct drive platform.

The final number of units and turbine model remain to be determined, but the contract is expected to be completed by 2026. The agreement is subject to certain conditions including Dominion Energy’s final investment decision, governmental permitting, and other required approvals.

“Signing this preferred supplier agreement with Dominion Energy attests to the enormously exciting growth taking place in the U.S. offshore wind industry and across the globe” commented Markus Tacke, Siemens Gamesa CEO.

Once online, the project is expected to provide enough clean energy to avoid 3.7 million tons per year of carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel-based power generation. This is a milestone agreement for the United States as it aims to add 25 GW of renewable energy by 2030.

“We’re confident that offshore wind power is already one of the fastest-growing, most important contributors on which Virginia state agencies can draw to reach their ambitious renewable energy goals. Receiving 30 % of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 is fully feasible, and we are eager to lead the way for the citizens of the Commonwealth,” said Steve Dayney, head of Offshore North America at Siemens Gamesa.

Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind is drawing on knowledge gained though its current two-turbine,12 MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. It is the first offshore wind project to be built in US Federal waters and will utilise Siemens 6 MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines. It is set to be online in 2020 within a research lease area adjacent to site of the 2640-MW project.

The agreement for Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind also provides for certain early works to support project development, including turbine array layouts which will be used in the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submittal to the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in late 2020.

SGRE has over 3490 offshore wind turbines in operation globally with a combined capacity of more than 15.2 GW.