Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted Sign First U.S. Offshore Turbine Supplier Contract
Monday 13 August 2018
Demonstrating that the offshore wind industry is gaining significant momentum in the United States, Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted announced the signing of a subcontract to supply wind turbines for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project founded by Dominion Energy. Ørsted and Dominion Energy entered into a strategic partnership in 2017 to provide Virginia customers with a clean, renewable source of energy. This will be the first offshore wind project to be built in federal waters, marking a significant achievement for the offshore wind industry in the United States, and it will be the first U.S. project for all companies. Ørsted will construct the wind project using two units of Siemens Gamesa’s 6-MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines, totaling 12MW of potential generated power.
Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted have a longstanding partnership. In 2013, Ørsted developed the first pilot project for Siemens Gamesa’s 6-MW platform, Gunfleet Sands III, located off the coast of the United Kingdom. Siemens Gamesa and Ørsted have contracted, manufactured, installed and commissioned a total volume of approximately 2,700 MW of offshore wind power capacity across the globe.
The Siemens Gamesa blades for this project will be produced at the company’s manufacturing facility in Aalborg, Denmark, and the nacelle assemblies will originate from the Siemens Gamesa facility in Cuxhaven, Germany. Once in Virginia, the turbine components will be installed by Ørsted on monopile foundations. Deliveries are expected to begin in mid-2020.
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is a two-turbine demonstration project owned by Dominion Energy and constructed by Ørsted. It will be built within a research lease area adjacent to the 112,700-acre lease area currently held by Dominion Energy, located approximately 27 miles off the Atlantic coast of Virginia. The lease area has a potential wind energy capacity of at least 2GW.
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project continues what previously was called the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Assessment Project. Dominion Energy began work on the project in 2011 as part of a Department of Energy grant to develop and test new wind technologies that could lower costs and withstand hurricanes. Key achievements were made to advance the project during that time, including the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) approval of the Research Activities Plan; environmental studies, including avian and bat surveys; and assessments of ocean currents, archaeological conditions, and whale migration patterns.