Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project Construction and Operations Plan

Abstract

The Virginia Electric and Power Company, doing business as Dominion Energy Virginia (hereafter referred to as Dominion Energy), is proposing to construct, own, and operate the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Commercial Project (hereinafter referred to as the Project). The Project will be located in the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Offshore Virginia (Lease No. OCS-A-0483) (Lease Area), which was awarded to Dominion Energy (Lessee) through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) competitive renewable energy lease auction of the Wind Energy Area (WEA) offshore of Virginia in 2013. The Lease Area covers approximately 112,799 acres (ac; 45,658 hectares [ha]) and is approximately 27 statute miles (mi; 23.75 nautical miles [nm], 43.99 kilometers [km]) off the Virginia Beach coastline.

The purpose of this Project is to provide between 2,500 and 3,000 megawatts (MW) of clean, reliable offshore wind energy; to increase the amount and availability of renewable energy to Virginia and North Carolina consumers; to create the opportunity to displace electricity generated by fossil fuel-powered plants, and to offer substantial economic and environmental benefits to the Commonwealth of Virginia. This Project represents a viable and needed opportunity for Virginia to obtain clean renewable energy and realize its economic and environmental goals.

Dominion Energy has adopted a Project Design Envelope (PDE) approach to describe Project facilities and activities. A PDE is defined as “a reasonable range of project designs” associated with various components of the project (e.g., foundation and wind turbine generator (WTG) [or wind turbine] options) (BOEM 2018). The PDE is then used to assess the potential impacts on key environmental and human use resources (e.g., marine mammals, fish, benthic habitats, commercial fisheries, navigation, etc.) focusing on the design parameter (within the defined range) that represents the greatest potential impact (i.e., the “maximum design scenario”) for each unique resource (Rowe et al. 2017). The primary goal of applying a design envelope is to allow for meaningful assessments by the jurisdictional agencies of the proposed project elements and activities while concurrently providing the Lessee reasonable flexibility to make prudent development and design decisions prior to construction. This conservative approach likely overstates the actual impact to environmental and human use resources from the ultimate Project following alternatives refinement and implementation of any selected avoidance, minimization, and mitigation measures.

This Construction and Operations Plan (COP) covers the entire Lease Area, Offshore Export Cable Route Corridor, and associated Onshore Project Components and therefore addresses the proposed Project elements and the means and methods used for constructing, installing and operating the facilities as well as the potential positive and adverse effects of the Project.

CVOW Commercial COP Sections

Appendices

  • Appendix A: Safety Management System
  • Appendix B: Preliminary Hierarchy of Standards
  • Appendix C: Marine Site Investigation Report
  • Appendix D: Benthic Resource Characterization Report
  • Appendix E: Essential Fish Habitat Assessment
  • Appendix F: Marine Archeological Resource Assessment
  • Appendix G: Terrestrial Archaeological Resource Assessment
  • Appendix H1: Historic Properties Assessment
  • Appendix H2: Onshore Historical Resources Visual Effects Analysis (HRVEA) (Confidential)
  • Appendix H3: Offshore HRVEA (Confidential)
  • Appendix H4: Correspondence
  • Appendix I: Visual Impact Assessment, Offshore
  • Appendix I2: Visual Impact Assessment, Onshore
  • Appendix J: Sediment Transport Analysis
  • Appendix K: Conceptual Project Design Drawings
  • Appendix L: Summary of Agency and Stakeholder Engagement Part 1
  • Appendix L: Summary of Agency and Stakeholder Engagement Part 2
  • Appendix L: Summary of Agency and Stakeholder Engagement Part 3
  • Appendix L: Summary of Agency and Stakeholder Engagement Part 4
  • Appendix L: Summary of Agency and Stakeholder Engagement Part 5
  • Appendix M: Certified Verification Agency Nomination
  • Appendix N: Air Emissions Calculations and Methodology
  • Appendix O1: Avian and Bat Impact Assessment
  • Appendix O2: Offshore Bat
  • Appendix O3: Northern Longeared Bat Presence/Absence Mist-Netting Survey Report
  • Appendix P: Coastal Zone Management Act Consistency Certifications
  • Appendix Q: Oil Spill Response Plan
  • Appendix R: Threatened and Endangered Species Review
  • Appendix S: Navigation Safety Risk Assessment
  • Appendix T: Obstruction Evaluation and Additional Analysis
  • Appendix U: Wetland Delineation Report
  • Appendix V: Fisheries Communications Plan
  • Appendix W: Preliminary Cable Burial Risk Assessment
  • Appendix X: Metocean Assessment (Confidential and Proprietary)
  • Appendix Y: In-Air Acoustic Assessment
  • Appendix Z: Underwater Acoustic Assessment
  • Appendix AA: Offshore Electric and Magnetic Field Assessment
  • Appendix BB: Onshore Electric and Magnetic Field Assessment
  • Appendix CC: Seabed Morphology Study
  • Appendix DD: Section-106 Phased ID Plan
  • Appendix EE-1: Socioeconomic EJ Studies  
  • Appendix EE-2: Environmental Justice Screening Report
  • Appendix FF: Protected Species Mitigation and Monitoring Plan

 

This document is related to the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) Project Site.