Description
Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) is a wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. The pilot project consists of two 6 MW turbines for a total of 12 MW, which were subjected to intense environmental monitoring. The successive commercial-scale project will expand to include 176 turbines to generate a total of 2.6 GW and is expected to begin construction in 2024. The wind farm will additionally contain three offshore substations with 9 buried offshore export cables extending to an onshore cable landing area.
CVOW’s pilot project marked the first installation of wind turbines in U.S. Federal waters. Environmental effects are being studied under the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)’s Realtime Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations (RODEO) program, which seeks to characterize potential stressors during the construction and operation of select offshore wind farms.
Location
The project is located in US Federal waters 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach.
Licensing Information
- 2022, May: Submitted CWA Section 404, CWA Section 408, and RHA Section 10 application. Decisions anticipated Q3 2023
- 2022, April: Submitted FAA Form 7460-1, notice of proposed construction or alteration. Determinations received May 2022
- 2022, March: Submitted initial application for CAA OCS Air Permit
- 2013, November: Commercial lease with Virginia Electric and Power Company (dba Dominion Virginia Power) for the Virginia Wind Energy Area
Project Timeline
- 2024-2026: Planned commencement of installation of commercial project
- 2023: BOEM approves COP
- 2022: CVOW approved by Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC)
- 2022: Virginia State Corporation Commission review
- 2020: Pilot project turbines installed
- 2020: Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submitted to BOEM
- 2019: BOEM approves RAPR
- 2017: Submission of Research Activities Plan Revision (RAPR) for BOEM’s Review
- 2017: Ørsted retained as EPC contractor for the project
- 2017: Site assessment plan approved by BOEM
- 2013: Dominion Energy executed lease agreement with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM)
Key Environmental Issues
CVOW is the second facility to be studied under BOEM’s Realtime Opportunity for Development Environmental Observations (RODEO) study. RODEO aims to make direct, real-time measurements of the nature, intensity, and duration of potential stressors during the construction and initial operations of selected offshore wind facilities. Underwater acoustic monitoring was conducted during the construction of two monopile wind turbines.
Additionally, Dominion contracted with Normandeau Associates Inc. to provide postconstruction monitoring for the CVOW Pilot Project. Normandeau's Acoustic and Thermographic Offshore Monitoring (ATOMTM) systems are deployed on platforms underneath the two CVOW Pilot Project offshore wind turbines. They collect thermographic and natural light imagery within the rotor swept zone and the vicinity of the wind turbine 24/7 during the monitoring period. Additional ATOMTM sensors include bird and bat acoustics and VHF/MOTUS Nanotag receivers and antennae. Normandeau also conducted six boat-based surveys every other month during the first year of operations using a transect design. Additional information on this monitoring can be found here.
Environmental Papers and Reports
Pilot Project:
- Passive Acoustic Monitoring during the construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project (Lin et al., 2022)
- Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Offshore Virginia Revised Environmental Assessment (BOEM, 2015)
- Field Observations During Offshore Wind Structure Installation and Operation (Maryland Offshore Wind and Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind) (HDR, 2021)
- Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Noise monitoring during monopile installation A01 and A02 (WaterProof, 2020)
Commercial Project:
- Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Draft Environmental Impact Statement (BOEM, 2022)
- Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project Construction and Operations Plan (Tetra Tech, 2022)
- Assessing the exposure of three diving bird species to offshore wind areas on the US Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf using satellite telemetry (Stenhouse et al, 2020)
- Determining Fine-Scale Use and Movement Patterns of Diving Bird Species in Federal Waters of the Mid-Atlantic United States Using Satellite Telemetry (Spiegel et al, 2017)
- Wildlife Densities and Habitat Use Across Temporal and Spatial Scales on the Mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (2012-2014) (Williams et al, 2015)
Baseline Assessment: Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)
| Receptor | Design and Methods | Results | Publications | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bats | Passive Acoustic Monitoring Stationary acoustic recorders on 5 structures off the coast of Virginia, across all seasons 2012-2019. | Complete Tree bat occurrence was found to be negatively related to wind speed and positively related to temperature and visibility. | True et al. 2021 | No data publicly available. |
| Bats | Passive Acoustic Monitoring Acoustic bat detectors were deployed during offshore geophysical and geotechnical survey activities in 2020-2021 within the Lease Area. | Complete Bat activity rates were low, with no federally listed species detected. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
| Birds | Digital video, boat surveys, telemetry From 2012-2014, wildlife off the Eastern Seaboard were observed with a series of digital video aerial surveys, boat surveys, satellite telemetry, and nocturnal migration monitoring. Work resulted in the Mid-Atlantic Baseline Studies (MABS). | Complete Species common to the mid-Atlantic coast were identified. | Williams et al. 2015 | No data publicly available. |
| Birds | Satellite transmitters Peregrine Falcons and Merlins were satellite-tagged. Study by BRI at three research stations along the north Atlantic coast. | Complete Peregrine Falcons and Merlin migration routes along the Atlantic Flyway were identified. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | |
| Birds | Satellite transmitters: Telonics TAV-2630 and IMPTAV-2640 236 adult birds were tagged and tracked with Platform Terminal (satellite) Transmitters (PTTs). | Complete Fine-scale movement patterns of three species (Red-throated Loon, Surf Scoter, and Northern Gannet) were identified in the mid-Atlantic coast. | Spiegel et al. 2017, Stenhouse et al. 2020 | |
| Birds | Digital VHF (very high frequency) transmitter tags 3,955 individuals of 17 shorebird species were tagged with VHF transmitters between 2014 and 2017 at 21 sites dispersed across North and South America. Movement was tracked via a collaborative radio telemetry network. | Complete In analysing movement of the birds through Federal waters of the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf, most flights were found to be above the rotor swept zone (RSZ). 36% of flights were in the RSZ in fall, and 24% in spring. | Loring et al. 2021 | No data publicly available. |
| Fish | Multibeam echo sounder, side scan sonar, visual imagery Visual imagery taken during grab samples were analysed for organisms, including fish. Surveys were undertaken using SSS and MBES in the offshore project area and cable corridor. | Complete Essential fish habitats have been designated in the project area for 33 species. Results are detailed in appendix E: essential fish habitat assessment. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
| Invertebrates | Grab samples, digital imagery 74 grab sample stations were used to collect data. Water quality measurements were taken, and infaunal organisms were sieved and collected for identification. Underwater images were also collected to corroborate sediment grab samples. | Complete No hard bottomed habitats were observed. 26 taxa were identified, including hard clam and blue mussel in the export cable route. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
| Marine Mammals | Protected Species Observer sighting, passive acoustic monitoring Data was collected during project-related vessel-based surveys between 2018 and 2019 in a study area encompassing the Lease Area. Additional sighting data were collected between 2020 and 2021. | Complete Marine mammals sighted are summarized in tabular form. 38 species were observed (7 large whale, 20 dolphins, 5 beaked whales, 1 porpoise, 1 manatee, and 4 seals) either seasonally or year-round. | Tetra Tech Inc. 2022 | No data publicly available. |
| Marine Mammals | Passive acoustic monitoring Four stationary bottom-mounted recorders were deployed across the continental shelf, and six recorders were placed within the wind planning area. Data were recorded between 2015 and 2017. | Complete Right whales were found to be most common in the area, with Baleen, humpback, and fin whales also occurring. All whales occurred with seasonal variation. | Salisbury et al. 2018 | No data publicly available. |
Post-Construction Monitoring: Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW)
| Stressor | Receptor | Design and Methods | Results | Publications | Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noise | Marine Mammals | Underwater Sound Monitoring A suite of hydrophone arrays was deployed to monitor pile driving sound and seafloor particle motion during construction of the two pilot project turbines. The primary goal was to evaluate the efficacy of bubble curtains deployed around the turbine. The arrangement of the passive acoustic monitoring also allowed studies of azimuthal and range dependencies of pile driving sound propagation. | Complete Data showed the bubble curtain effectively reduced pile driving noise above 200Hz, and a significant azimuthal dependency was observed. | Lin et al. 2022, Amaral et al. 2021, WaterProof Marine Consultancy & Services BV. and Dominion Energy 2020 | No data publicly available. |