Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) is an offshore wind energy project located about off the coast of Virginia Beach in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, U.S. CVOW is being developed by Dominion Energy and is the largest offshore wind project under development in the U.S., covering a lease area of and expected to have a capacity of 2.6gigawatts (GW). It is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the power consumed by 660,000homes. The wind farm will consist of 176 Siemens Gamesa SG14-222DD fixed-bottom wind turbines, each of which has a capacity of 14.6megawatts (MW) and a rotor diameter. Dominion expects that the project will cost $10.7billion.
CVOW is one of the first commercial offshore wind farms built in U.S. federal waters and aims to contribute substantially to Virginia's renewable energy targets, which call for a total offshore wind capacity of 5.2GW by the end of 2035 and 100percent clean energy by 2050. The project is the only offshore wind farm in the U.S. being developed by a state public utility company (Dominion) as opposed to a private developer. This offers it more flexibility in changing electricity prices in response to project cost changes, which is not an option for private developers with fixed-price agreements. In 2020, CVOW was expected to create 900construction jobs and 1,100jobs once in operation, as well as $210million in economic output.Magnum Economics. (2020). Potential impact of the development of the offshore wind energy industry on Hampton Roads and Virginia. In Coastalvawind. https://coastalvawind.com/img/offshore-wind-economic-impact-report.pdf
Before construction of the primary commercial-scale project, Dominion built a pilot project on the edge of the lease area that was completed in 2020 in collaboration with Danish energy company Ørsted. The project features two Siemens Gamesa SWT-6.0-154 6MW wind turbines. The purpose of the pilot project was to research new technologies in offshore wind and develop innovative ways of reducing costs. The lessons learnt from this project were made publicly available by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to support the advancement of the offshore wind energy sector in the U.S., and informed the development of CVOW, which is now under construction and expected to be completed in 2026.
In order to get the electricity generated to the onshore grid, the wind farm will feature three offshore substations that collect and bundle together the electricity from the turbines. This will in turn be delivered to an onshore landing station at the State Military Reservation (SMR) in Virginia Beach by undersea cables. These cables continue underground to a switching station at the Naval Air Station Oceana, after which the energy can be delivered to Dominion's existing Fentress Substation in Chesapeake, Virginia, to be connected to the electrical grid. In order to support construction, Dominion is developing its own turbine installation vessel which will be the first Jones Act-compliant offshore wind vessel, and will be used to support other projects after CVOW. This is significant both for the ease of transportation during CVOW's construction, as well as for the growth of a domestic supply chain for offshore wind in the U.S. as a whole.
On 22December 2025, the US interior department suspended five offshore wind leases (Vineyard Wind1 off the coast of Massachusetts, Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind in New York, and CVOW and Revolution Wind in Rhode Island) over what it said were "national security concerns".Trump officials halt offshore wind-farm projects over ‘national security risks’ Ørsted filed a lawsuit.orsted.com 2 January 2026.
On 12January 2026, US district judge Royce Lamberth overturned the construction freeze of Revolution Wind. He said this project is likely to succeed in the ongoing legal dispute.theguardian.com 12 January 2026: US judge lets Danish firm resume Rhode Island offshore wind project halted by Trump. Lamberth stated that without a preliminary injunction, the project would suffer “irreparable harm” and that the company's request was “in the public interest.”
Development timeline This timeline traces the development from the project from 2012 to 2027 when the operation of CVOW is expected begin. It is organized in four distinct phases that the project must go through in order to be complete. The first phase is early development and planning, during which time the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gauges interest in a new lease area, evaluates the environmental impacts that may be imposed on it by construction, and conducts an auction to select a developer for a new offshore wind project. During the second phase, environmental review and permitting, the developer must submit a plan for how they will build, operate, and decommission the project. In response to this, BOEM must conduct an environmental analysis to assess the impacts of the plan, and consider comments submitted from the public regarding the public. In the third phase, record of decision and approvals, BOEM along with other implicated agencies must consider the environmental analysis and make a final decision on whether or not to approve the project. If approved, the project moves to the final phase during which is the action construction and installation of the wind farm. Early development and planning February 3, 2012: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) releases Call for Information and Nominations to assess interest in Call Area February 3, 2012: Environmental Assessment of Call Area completed with Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) September 4, 2013: BOEM holds lease action, awarded to Dominion Energy November 1, 2013: Lease signed October 12, 2017: BOEM approves Site Assessment Plan (SAP)Environmental review and permitting December 2020: Dominion submits initial Construction & Operations Plan (COP) July 2, 2021: BOEM publishes a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Dominion Energy initiating a 30-day public comment period. December 12, 2022: BOEM releases Draft EIS September 29, 2023: BOEM releases Final EISRecord of decision and approvals October 30, 2023: BOEM and other agencies issue joint Record of Decision (ROD) January 28, 2024: BOEM approves final COP (COP)Construction and installation November 2023: Onshore construction for underground export circuits begins. April 2024: Construction of offshore substations and turbines begins. Late 2026: Project construction completed. 2027: Project operation commences.
Lease area
Location Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is located in federally controlled waters on Commercial Lease Outer Continental Shelf (OSC)-A-0483 which is approximately off the Virginia Beach coastline. The lease area comprises and the entirety of this area will be occupied by the wind farm.Dominion Energy. (2021). Construction and Operations Plan Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Commercial Project. In Boem.gov. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/documents/renewable-energy/state-activities/CVOW-Commercial-COP-Sections-1-3.pdf The pilot project, which was built just on the western edge of the main commercial lease area, occupies its own lease area named Research Lease OCS-A-0497. This lease area is and is directly attached to OCS-A-0483.
History In 2009, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) initiated the renewable energy program (authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005), which provides a structure for regional planning and analysis, lease issuance, site assessment, and construction and operations. BOEM is required by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to award offshore wind lease areas competitively, through a "Call for Information and Nominations" process. BOEM published its Call for Information and Nominations on the February3, 2012, in the Federal Register to gauge interest for the Call Area. The Call additionally asked for information from the public regarding issues relevant to the review of nominations for the potential lease area.
On February3, 2012, BOEM published a Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for commercial wind lease issuance and site assessment activities on the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) offshore New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. BOEM published the "Virginia Proposed Sale Notice" in December, 2012 which provided the terms and conditions of the lease, which was followed by the "Final Sale Notice" published in July 2013 which announced that a commercial lease auction would be held on September4, 2013, for OCS-A-0483. This was the second competitive lease sale for renewable energy on the OCS. The auction had two participants, Virginia Electric and Power Company (doing business as Dominion Virginia Power) and Apex Virginia Offshore Wind, LLC, and consisted of 6rounds. Bids started at $225,598 but rose to $1,500,508 by Apex in the final round and $1.6million by Dominion, which ultimately won them the lease. The lease went into effect on November1, 2013.
A Call for Information and Nominations for Research Lease OCS-A-0497 was submitted on 8February 2013. In December of that year BOEM announced a "Determination of No Competitive Interest" stating that there was no significant interest from multiple parties to acquire the lease, which allowed them to proceed with issuing it on a non-competitive basis to a single interested entity. The lease was executed in March 2015 and was the first wind energy research lease in federal waters.BOEM. (2019). Virginia Offshore Wind Developer Update: Research Lease (OCS-A 0497). In BOEM.gov. https://www.boem.gov/sites/default/files/renewable-energy-program/State-Activities/NC/OCS-A-0497.pdf
Regulatory and permitting process In 2017, the Site Assessment Plan, detailing the methods Dominion would use to collect data on the marine environment in the lease area, was submitted to BOEM and approved. Following this, in December 2020, Dominion submitted its first version of a Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for CVOW to BOEM. The COP laid out detailed plans for the construction, operation, and eventual decommissioning of the project. After this submission, approval for the project was required both at the state and federal levels. State confirmation was required from the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) firstly to affirm that CVOW meets all state statutory requirements for rider cost recovery. Rider costs refer to charges on ratepayer electricity bills that are additional to the base rate that account for variable costs separate from the standard rate. It is necessary for the SCC to approve Dominions right to "recover" these costs through electricity bills. In addition to this, state jurisdiction over construction constitutes on land infrastructure as well as offshore infrastructure as far as three miles off the coast, after which waters fall under federal control. In 2022, the SCC issued a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity based on review of the COP that confirmed the need for the project and allowed construction that fell in its jurisdiction,.
Environmental impact statement