As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s goal of deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy capacity by 2030, today the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced three final Wind Energy Areas offshore Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, which were developed following extensive engagement and feedback from states, Tribes, local residents, ocean users, federal government partners, and other members of the public. If fully developed, the final WEAs could support between four and eight gigawatts of energy production.

Dominion Energy has said that its roughly $10 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is on budget and on track for completion in late 2026. The company said that it expected to get a Record of Decision from BOEM in the second half of 2023. The Record of Decision is a step in the process before construction can start.

The biggest, heaviest, and most delicate lifts in Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind development are not the components for the 176 wind turbines, but the three 4,000-ton offshore substations. The Orion is the vessel that will be setting the substations: the first in the fourth quarter of 2024 and the remaining two substations in the second quarter of 2025.

Currently, six turbines off the coast of Rhode Island account for the lion’s share of the U.S.’s offshore wind energy production, providing 30 megawatts of electricity, or enough power to supply about 5% of the homes in one of the country’s smallest states. In less than three decades, though, researchers believe that massive offshore turbines could be producing more than 10,000 times as much energy, enough to supply up to a quarter of the country’s future electricity demand.

New research from UC-Berkeley, GridLab, and Energy Innovation shows offshore wind could provide clean, affordable power off every coast in this country as a fundamental part of decarbonizing our economy. The U.S. has one of the world’s best offshore wind resources, with strong and steady winds blowing across thousands of miles of coastline. Taking advantage of this proven technology can enhance grid reliability, maintain affordable power, and create nearly 390,000 jobs.

Project costs have increased due to a variety of economic factors, but so have clean energy support and incentives. The global cost of developing offshore wind projects has risen significantly since 2021, but strong demand points to continued growth, DBRS Morningstar Vice President of Project Finance and Infrastructure Kevin Beicke said in an interview.