“We thank the Commission for its approval and appreciate the collaboration of the parties involved to reach an agreement that advances offshore wind and the clean energy transition in
In its order, the commission also issued a warning about the impact the project will have on the electricity bills of Dominion's captive electric utility customers.
“The magnitude of this project is so great that it will likely be the costliest project being undertaken by any regulated utility in
Dominion filed its application to build and recover the costs of the project with the
The commission initially signed off on the project in August, but it included a consumer protection provision — a performance guarantee — that Dominion strenuously objected to, saying it would kill the project.
Several parties to the SCC proceeding, including Walmart, the AG's office and conservation groups, began to hash out a compromise, announcing a proposed agreement in late October that did away with the performance guarantee but does include performance reporting requirements and provisions laying out a degree of construction cost sharing.
The agreement now approved by the SCC calls for a cost-sharing arrangement for any overruns beyond the estimated
The proposal would not require the company to guarantee certain energy production levels, like the SCC had initially ordered. Rather, Dominion will have to report average net capacity factors annually and “provide a detailed explanation of the factors contributing to any deficiency.” Capacity factor is a measure of how often a generating facility runs during a period of time.
The commission will also have the continuing authority to inspect Dominion's expenditures on the project to ensure they are reasonable and prudent under state law.
The project, which will be located about 27 miles off the coast of
The company already has a two-turbine pilot project up and running. The 2.6-gigawatt, utility-scale project’s schedule calls for an in-service date of late 2026 or early 2027. Dominion expects the project to generate enough clean energy to power up to 660,000 homes.
Thursday's SCC order noted that while Dominion estimates the capital cost of the project to be nearly
Clean
“With its final ruling today, the
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