The end of August and early September capped a busy and productive period for the Hampton Roads Alliance’s Offshore Wind Supply Chain Development Program. Over two weeks, the Alliance hosted a multi-day visit to the region from sixteen offshore wind companies, attended the Business Network for Offshore Wind’s International Partnering Forum in Richmond, VA, and gained three new members of the Virginia Offshore Wind Landing.

Dominion Energy will use a 72-acre portion of the 287-acre Portsmouth Marine Terminal, one of the Port of Virginia’s two multiuse terminals in the Norfolk Harbor, as a staging and pre-assembly area for the foundations and 800-foot wind turbines that will be installed in its offshore wind project.

Governor Ralph Northam congratulates the Business Network for Offshore Wind and participants at its International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum, a three-day global conference held in Virginia’s capital city with more than 1,300 attendees. The conference marked the culmination of months-long efforts between the Commonwealth and many international and domestic partners across the public and private sectors to position Virginia as a national leader in the offshore wind industry. Over 620 companies from the U.S. and overseas were represented at the conference.

Basque Minister Arantxa Tapia and Brian Ball, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade, signed a key commitment to enable Basque companies to participate in the main wind energy projects in Virginia. The Basque wind energy industrial core is composed of more than 100 companies, generating more than 34,500 jobs, with a global turnover of more than €15.7 billion.

With 9.1 GW of offshore wind planned to be installed by 2025, over 25,000 people will require entry-level standard training to fill jobs in the construction, installation, operation, and maintenance segments of the wind power value chain. Jobs in procurement, manufacturing and transport are not covered with this plan, according to Global Wind Organisation.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released three reports showing record growth in land-based wind energy, significant expansion of the pipeline for offshore wind projects, and continued decline in the cost of wind energy generation – laying the groundwork for significant future gains as the Biden Administration pursues rapid acceleration of renewable energy deployment to reach its goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035.

Sign up now for September's Friday Forum, happening September 17th at 9:00AM! Hear from Dominion Energy leadership about important progress made on the development of the CVOW project. Also, gain insights about Virginia’s position in the offshore wind industry from the recent Business Network for Offshore Wind International Partnering Forum held in Richmond, VA.