Local, national and international leaders in offshore wind have gathered in Virginia Beach this week to discuss how to keep pushing the industry forward.
The International Partnering Forum, hosted by the Oceantic Network, is promoting the far-reaching offshore wind supply chain and celebrating ongoing projects.
That includes Dominion Energy’s 176-turbine wind farm under construction just a few dozen miles away off the coast, which will be the nation’s largest.
“We are positioning Virginia Beach to become one of the main offshore wind energy hubs in this nation,” said Mayor Bobby Dyer. The city is “taking steps to work with other regions and nations to ensure this future success.”
But uncertainty and strong challenges loomed large, as officials frankly discussed President Donald Trump’s efforts to halt offshore wind.
“These are not normal times,” said Oceantic CEO Liz Burdock. “One hundred days ago, this momentum was targeted. Offshore wind found itself in political crosshairs. And yet here we are.”
She urged members to “stay in this fight.” “We must adapt and adapt fast while we grapple with indecision, economic uncertainty and political turbulence,” Burdock said. “Our opponents are loud and they're organized and they're holding elected leaders accountable to their demands. It's time we respond with strength.”
On his first day in office, Trump signed a memo halting all new federal leases and permits for wind energy, pending an internal review.
It did not stop projects already permitted under construction, such as Dominion’s $10.7 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. But it opened the door to do so by directing federal officials to “review the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases.”
Things escalated in mid-April, when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum ordered a stop-work order on Empire Wind, an offshore wind farm in the Northeast. The fully permitted project had quietly started construction off the New York coast a week prior.
The stop-work order sent shock waves through the industry, jeopardizing billions in investment across the supply chain in 23 states, according to the Oceantic Network.
Attendees at this week’s conference in Virginia Beach packed a session devoted to understanding Trump’s directives on wind.
Attorney Josh Kaplowitz, the panel’s moderator, said he worries about the message the administration sends to any business needing federal approval, in the energy industry and beyond.
“Regulatory certainty begets investment, and investment begets job creation,” he said. “That regulatory certainty has been turned on its head.”
Brian Krevor, senior director for offshore environmental and permitting with the American Clean Power Association, said offshore wind is already one of the most regulated industries in the U.S.
He pointed to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that addressed much of what Trump has requested in the new review of offshore wind, such as evaluating impacts on marine life and the fishing industry. The presidential memo in January did not include a deadline for the review, but all leasing and permitting is paused in the meantime.
Dominion declined to speak to WHRO about challenges facing the industry. The utility maintains it will finish the Virginia Beach wind farm on time, late next year.
Dominion’s senior vice president of project construction, Mark Mitchell, said at the forum that the company expects electricity demand in Virginia to double by 2038. That’s largely because of power-hungry data centers that fuel artificial intelligence systems.
“We need every electron we can get,” Mitchell said. And offshore wind “is the fastest electron we can get.”
The company is also working to meet the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act terms, which require the utility to generate all of its power from carbon-free sources by 2045, including a subset specifically from offshore wind.
Meanwhile, Dominion is fending off a lawsuit from a coalition of conservative groups that argue federal officials failed to adequately consider the project’s potential impacts on endangered whales.
Dominion says several measures are in place to protect whales, including trained observers who watch for marine mammals and “bubble curtains” to dampen the sound of underwater construction.
The lawsuit also targets federal agencies that issued Dominion’s permits, such as the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It’s unclear whether the Trump administration will continue to defend Dominion’s project in court, while administration officials echo the plaintiffs’ concerns in public remarks.
Despite the turbulence, industry leaders said they’re optimistic about offshore wind’s future as a key way to transition to clean energy. They pointed to achievements such as Monday's groundbreaking in Chesapeake of a $700 million subsea cable factory, which will serve wind energy.
Bon-Kyu Koo, CEO of the South Korean company called LS Cable & System, spoke on the Oceantic conference stage a day later.
“We’re looking at the long-term perspective,” he said. “And looking at that long-term perspective, we don’t worry too much.”
