BOEM moves two Atlantic Coast offshore wind projects along its pipeline

Image: Ørsted

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has announced the availability of two more draft Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) for offshore wind projects for public review and comment. The projects, Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Wind (CVOW) project and Ørsted and Eversource’s Sunrise Wind project, if approved, could provide over 4,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy capacity. The projects are the fourth and fifth projects at this stage of regulatory review by BOEM.

The proposed CVOW commercial project offshore Virginia Beach could provide up to 3,000 MW of energy, enough to power at least 1 million homes. The proposed Sunrise Wind project offshore New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island could provide up to 1,034 MW of energy, enough to power at least 350,000 homes.

COASTAL VIRGINIA OFFSHORE WIND

The CVOW draft EIS can be found on BOEM’s website, and the Notice of Availability for the draft EIS will publish in the Federal Register on Dec. 16, which will open a 60-day public comment period that will end on Feb. 14, 2023. The input received via this process will inform preparation of the final EIS.

Dominion Energy submitted a Construction and Operation Plan (COP) for its proposal to develop a wind energy project that includes up to 205 wind turbine generators (WTGs) and their associated offshore and onshore export cables. The CVOW project is located on the U.S. outer continental shelf (OCS) approximately 24 nautical miles (nm) east of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

SUNRISE WIND

The Sunrise Wind draft EIS can be found on BOEM’s website, and the Notice of Availability for the draft EIS will publish in the Federal Register on Dec. 16, which will open a 60-day public comment period that ends on Feb. 14, 2023. The input received via this process will inform preparation of the final EIS.

Sunrise Wind LLC submitted a COP for its proposal to develop a wind energy facility that includes up to 94 WTGs and their associated export cables. The WTGs and offshore substation would be approximately 16.4 nm south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, approximately 26.5 nm east of Montauk, New York, and 14.5 nm from Block Island, Rhode Island. The onshore export cables, substation, and grid connection would be located in Holbrook, New York.