Dominion Energy announced it has officially acquired the lease for the Kitty Hawk North offshore wind project, which has been plagued with resident complaints in Sandbridge.
Dominion bought the lease from Avangrid for $160 million, according to a Monday news release. Avangrid secured the rights to develop a 122,405-acre lease area about 27 miles off the coast of the Outer Banks for $9 million in 2017.
The Kitty Hawk offshore wind project is currently moving through the federal permitting process with a goal of being operational in the early 2030s. Avangrid will retain ownership of the lease for the Kitty Hawk South wind project.
“With electric demand in our Virginia territory projected to double in the next 13 years, Dominion Energy is securing access to power generation resources that ensure we continue to provide the reliable, affordable and increasingly clean energy that powers our customers every day,” Robert M. Blue, chair and CEO of Dominion Energy, said in a statement. “This transaction gives our company another potential option to meet that growing demand in a size and on a timeframe that is consistent with the regulated business mix, credit and risk profile objectives of the recently concluded business review.”
To bring the energy it generates ashore, the project needs to secure a site where transmission cables can come aground. Dominion acknowledged community concerns from residents, and said it was “committed to working closely with the community, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the City of Virginia Beach as it considers this project.” The cables would come ashore in the public parking lot at the end of Sandbridge Road, behind Sandbridge Seaside Market, and residents expressed concerns for beach access and maintenance. The Sandbridge Beach Civic League voted against the cable landing in 2022.
Dominion reported that, once completed, the site would have the capacity to serve 200,000 homes and businesses.
The Kitty Hawk project joins several other offshore wind projects planned off Hampton Roads and coastal North Carolina over the next 10 years. Dominion began construction in May on a large-scale wind turbine project off the coast of Virginia Beach. The planned 176-turbine, $9.8 billion project is expected to provide enough energy to power up to 660,000 homes once completed by the end of 2026. In August, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will conduct an auction for the lease for another area off Virginia, about 35 nautical miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Eliza Noe, eliza.noe@virginiamedia.com
