Siemens Gamesa, the Spanish turbine maker, and Dominion Energy, the US power utility, will develop the first US factory of wind turbines for offshore wind developments. The companies announced it this Monday, adding that the plant will help create a domestic supply chain.
Firstly, the companies announced an investment of $200 million to build the factory. It will locate in Portsmouth, Virginia. The factory would reach completion by 2025.
Moreover, the factory’s location will be adjacent to a property from Dominion Energy that the company is leasing to build turbines for its project, the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, or CVOW.
Indeed, Dominion Energy expects to develop CVOW as the largest US offshore wind farm. It would include 180, 800-feet tall turbines installed nearly 48 kilometers off Virginia’s coasts. According to the statement, the project would reach completion by 2026, depending on permits. It would have a capacity of 2,6 gigawatts, enough to power 600,000 homes.
In addition, Dominion Energy sees a lot of potential to develop offshore wind on the East Coast. Mark Mitchell, a Dominion senior vice president for project construction, said to Reuters. “You’re seeing pieces coming together to not only support our CVOW project but to support the future of offshore wind on the East Coast.”
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Siemens Gamesa and Dominion to benefit the US offshore wind industry with domestic-made turbines
Furthermore, the projects of Dominion and Siemens would push Joe Biden’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030. As of right now, CVOW is undergoing an environmental review by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management; expected to reach completion in mid-2023. It also needs approval from Virginia.
Additionally, Dominion Energy is also working on the construction of a $500 million ship to build wind turbines called the Charybdis. It would be the first facility in the US to comply with The Jones Act; a century-old law requiring goods moved between US ports to be carried by domestically built vessels.
About the footprint of the CVOW, Steve Dayney, head of offshore, North America, for Siemens Gamesa, said the blade factory will support about 260 workers. “This is a big step in developing the whole offshore industry and a proof point of all the benefits that offshore can bring to the US as it did in other locations, such as Europe or Taiwan,” Dayney said.
Finally, Dayney added that Virginia has been a supporter of offshore wind “from the beginning; and we trust that all parties are looking forward to making it a success.”
