Front Generator Wind Turbine

More than a hundred thousand acres of the shores of Virginia is to be developed for offshore wind power generation following the completion of the United State’s second competitive lease sale for renewable energy in federal waters.

As part of the Obama Administration’s Climate Action Plan to create American jobs and cut down carbon pollution through the development of domestic clean energy sources, the U.S. Department of the Interior has been holding auctions to lease portions of the nation’s coastal waters for energy generation projects.

The sale was held via an auction conducted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and garnered $1,600,000 in bids for 112,799 acres on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Virginia. This is the second such sale held this year, following a July 31 auction of 164,750 acres offshore Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

“This year’s second offshore wind lease sale is another major milestone in the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy and demonstrates continued momentum behind a robust renewable energy portfolio that will help to keep our nation competitive and expand domestic energy production while cutting carbon pollution,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.

Virginia Electric and Power Company is the provisional winner of the auction. Through their Dominion Virginia Power segment, they are set to develop an offshore wind turbine farm capable of generating up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity or enough for 700,000 homes.

"Offshore wind has the potential to provide the largest, scalable renewable resource for Virginia if it can be achieved at reasonable cost to customers," said Mary C. Doswell, senior vice president-Alternative Energy Solutions of Dominion Virginia Power.

"We will now proceed with the B.O.E.M. timetable for development of the commercial wind energy area while advancing our research proposal and looking for ways to lower the cost of bringing offshore wind generation to customers," Ms. Doswell added.

Dominon expects the first turbine to be installed in about 10 years, pending the approval of their construction and operations plan.

As part of the current Climate Action Plan, the Interior Department is seeking to approve an additional 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy production on both public lands and waters by 2020.

In line with this goal, the B.O.E.M. is expected to announce additional auctions for Wind Energy Areas offshore Maryland, New Jersey, and Massachusetts later this year and in 2014.

Currently, the Interior Department has approved 47 renewable energy generation projects on public lands and waters for around 13,300 megawatts of clean energy or enough to power more than 4.8 million homes. –EcoSeed Staff