The first batch of the enormous metal structures used as wind turbine bases in Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm will soon be headed on a boat to the construction site off the coast of Virginia Beach, Virginia Port Authority officials said.
Six monopiles — steel tubes almost as long as a football field — are ready to be loaded onto the Orion vessel to be installed at the wind farm site, Virginia Port Authority Chief Development and Public Affairs Officer Cathie Vick told the port’s board of directors during Tuesday’s meeting.
The monopiles will be begin their sea journey to the site in about a week, Vick said. There are 36 total at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal staging area.
“This is now getting very real,” Stephen Edwards, Virginia Port Authority CEO and executive director, said about the offshore project during the meeting.
Wednesday was the first date the company was allowed to begin installing the structures, Dominion Energy spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said in an email. He said the Orion is undergoing preparations to begin the installations.
Fabricated in Germany, the monopiles arrived in Portsmouth in October. The $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project will be 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast and will generate enough electricity to power up to 660,000 homes, according to Dominion Energy. Construction is planned to continue until the end of 2026.
In other capital project updates, Vick said construction is now complete on an expansion to the central railyard at Norfolk International Terminals. The $83 million project included two new rail track bundles and three new rail-mounted cranes.
Additionally, construction began on a modernization project at the north berth at Norfolk International Terminals, Vick said. The project includes new cranes and a new container stack yard, according to the port.
Lastly, Vick said construction efforts to widen and deepen the port’s channels to at least 55 feet are more than halfway finished. The port is now able to handle two-way traffic of ultra-large container ships as of earlier this year. Vick said the $450 million dredging operation to deepen the harbor to 55 feet and the ocean to about 59 feet is being handled in phases, with the final phase scheduled for completion by August 2025.
Staff writer Stacy Parker contributed to this story.
Trevor Metcalfe, 757-222-5345, trevor.metcalfe@pilotonline.com
