Avangrid Renewables has submitted a plan to federal regulators for the first 800-MW phase of its Kitty Hawk offshore wind project, an opening move in a plan to build 2.5 GW of wind power off the Virginia and North Carolina coast over the coming decade.
Its filing of a construction and operations plan with the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) marks the opening of a multiyear process for what could be the first commercial-scale offshore wind project off the US mid-Atlantic coast. The project’s first phase is aimed to start construction by 2024, and it will be followed by other phases that could bring 2.5 GW of generation capacity online by 2030. Avangrid cited an environmental impact statement indicating the project will drive $2 billion in economic activity over that time, including creating about 800 jobs in Virginia and North Carolina.
Avangrid Renewables is the clean power development arm of US utility company Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spanish utility group Iberdrola. The developer is also seeking BOEM approval for the first 800-MW phase of the Vineyard Wind project planned to eventually connect 2 GW of wind power off the Massachusetts coast, as well as the 804-MW Park City project off the Connecticut coast.
Kitty Hawk would be the first offshore wind farm for North Carolina coastal waters. But it is not the only major offshore wind project targeting the mid-Atlantic region. Virginia-based utility Dominion Energy has built a 12 MW pilot project off the Virginia coast that came online this year, and it plans to build 2.6 GW by 2026, a major step toward meeting the targets set by Virginia’s Clean Economy Act to secure 5.1 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2034.
Virginia’s offshore wind ambitions mirror those being set by other Eastern US states seeking to decarbonize their energy mix and reduce the impacts of climate change. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia have set targets adding up to a total of 29 GW by 2035.
