Dominion Virginia Power will get up to another $47 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help build off-shore wind turbines.
The demonstration project is one of three the DOE is funding as it looks for ways to cut the cost of offshore wind projects. Dominion will use the money to help build turbines about 24 miles off the coast.
This is the second big federal grant award for the project, dubbed the Virginia Offshore Wind Technology Advancement Project, or VOWTAP. The program won a $4 million grant in late 2012.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe said it’s great news for Virginia and a key step toward his goal of making Virginia the economic hub for research, development and construction of wind turbines off of our coast and at other offshore sites around the nation. McAuliffe said the project will have an economic impact of approximately $10 million a year and create up to 100 jobs through the end of construction.
