Was this a big, missed opportunity for Cape Charles Harbor?
Virginia Business – Denmark-based energy company Ørsted has agreed to lease a portion of the Portsmouth Marine Terminal from the Virginia Port Authority to stage materials and equipment for Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. The Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to ratify the agreement.
Ørsted will use the space for its work on Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, as well as for staging materials and equipment for other East Coast projects. The agreement is for a lease of 1.7 acres at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (one of the Port of Virginia’s two multiuse terminals in the Norfolk Harbor) with options to expand an additional 40 acres. The entire terminal covers 287 acres and has on-dock rail access.
The CVOW project is a pilot project for Dominion’s larger plans for a $7.8 billion, 220-turbine wind farm 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach by 2026. The wind farm, which would be the largest in the nation, is being proposed as part of Dominion’s initiative to reduce its carbon emissions by 55% in the next decade and 80% by 2050. The project would produce enough zero-carbon electricity to power 650,000 Virginia homes. Dominion has selected Spanish renewable energy engineering company Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A. as the preferred turbine supplier for the proposed wind farm.
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Once Northam left ESVA he forgot it ever existed. Being one of the areas in VA most in need of economic development you would think that a former resident, now governor would have given serious consideration to Cape Charles.
No, this was not a missed opportunity for Cape Charles. Cape Charles, with it’s complete lack of facilities for such an economic endeavor, couldn’t even dream of pursuing part of this windfarm business. Just click a quick visit to this Portsmouth Marine Terminal and you can see in a N.Y. minute that there is no way such a project could be housed here.
Our Commonwealth did legislate a new law to provide tax credits to corporations to try to get them to locate business in rural areas, but so far it appears to be a bag of wind. Lots of talk. Little action.