Dominion awarded $47m for wind turbines off Virginia Beach coast

Dominion Virginia Power has been awarded $47 million from the Department of Energy to help fund the construction of two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia.

The Department of Energy announced Wednesday that Dominion was one of three companies, out of seven finalists, that will receive the funding.

The Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project (VOWTAP) will consist of two 6-megawatt turbines located in federal waters approximately 24 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.

The project will test a hurricane-resilient design to ensure that offshore wind facilities placed in hurricane-prone waters are reliable, safe and cost-effective.

VOWTAP aims to have the turbines up and generating electricity by 2017.

“I’m proud to have been a supporter of offshore wind development in Virginia since the very beginning and I applaud Dominion and VOWTAP on receiving this competitive grant,” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said. “I’m especially excited this project brings in a lot of local partners, who have the opportunity to make Virginia a real leader in offshore wind and create high-skill jobs in the Commonwealth.”

Dominion and the VOWTAP team are also working with Alstom Power Inc., a wind turbine manufacturer that will supply the turbines;  KBR, a global engineering, construction, and services firm with experience in offshore wind; Keystone Engineering, the designer of the innovative substructure; the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center; Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries; and the Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute, representing the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium.

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