Utility Dominion Energy has secured permission from the US Interior Department for a 2.6 gigawatt offshore wind farm near the Virginia coast.
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project would see up to 176 wind turbines deployed 23.5 nautical miles off Virginia Beach. The turbines are expected to be deployed in 2025 and start producing power from the third quarter of that year.
“The Interior Department is committed to the Biden-Harris administration’s all-of-government approach to the clean energy future, which helps respond to the climate crisis, lower energy costs, and create good-paying union jobs across the manufacturing, shipbuilding and construction sectors," said Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
“Today’s approval of the largest offshore wind project in US history builds on the undeniable momentum we are seeing. Together with the labor community, industry, Tribes, and partners from coast to coast, we are aggressively working toward our clean energy goals.”
The Interior Department noted that the wind farm could support the power needs of around 900,000 homes, but it may also be used to support Virginia's increasing data center power demands.
Data centers are growing larger and denser in the AI age, but the world's data center capital has struggled to support the sector's increasing electricity demands. In 2022, Dominion warned that data center projects would have to be pushed back due to transmission delays.
