By Steve Goreham
On November 6, Virginia’s State Corporation Commission (SCC) regulatory agency approved a project to construct wind turbines near Virginia Beach. The plan calls for construction of turbines 27 miles off the coast, to begin operation by the end of 2020. Virginia electricity rate-payers will pay the exorbitant costs of this project.
The project, named Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW), will be the first offshore wind project in the mid-Atlantic. Dominion Energy and Orsted A/S of Denmark will erect two 6-megawatt wind turbines supplied by Siemens Gamesa of Spain. The estimated project cost is a staggering $300 million, to be paid for in the electricity bills of Virginia businesses and households.
According to the Wind Technologies Market Report, US wind turbine market prices in 2016 were just under $1,000 per kilowatt, or about $6 million for a 6-megawatt turbine. Virginia will pay 25 times the US market price for the CVOW turbines.
The wholesale price for electricity in Virginia is about 3 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This is the price received by coal, natural gas, or nuclear generating facilities. The electricity produced from the two offshore turbines will receive 78 cents per kWh, or a staggering 26 times the wholesale price.
The SCC acknowledged that the project was not the result of competitive bidding, and that the project was not needed to improve power system reliability or capacity reserve margin. They also concluded “…it appears unlikely that the cost of offshore wind facilities will become competitive with solar or onshore wind options in the foreseeable future.” Virginia electricity rate payers will also pay for any project cost overruns.
Why would the State Corporation Commission approve such an expensive project? The SCC pointed out that on six separate occasions, the Virginia General Assembly declared that offshore wind was “in the public interest.” Governor Ralph Northam said the project would harness Virginia’s “offshore wind energy resource and the many important economic benefits that this industry will bring to our Commonwealth.”
What is it about green energy that induces government officials to pay far above market prices? It is doubtful that governor Northam or Virginia Assembly members would pay 25 times the market price for food, clothing, or housing. But they are quick to approve a project that will soak Virginia electricity rate payers.
Beyond the project cost, Virginians should be concerned that these wind turbines will likely not survive to the end of their projected 25-year life. The CVOW project is the southernmost proposed wind project along the Atlantic Coast and the site of periodic hurricane activity.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 34 hurricanes have been recorded within 100 miles of the project site within the last 150 years. Five of these storms were Category 3 hurricanes, including Hurricane Bob in 1991 and Hurricane Emily in 1993. A hurricane passes through the area about every five years.
Project specifications call for the CVOW wind turbines to survive sustained winds of 112 miles per hour (50 meters per second). The turbines are also designed to survive waves of 51 feet (15.6 meters) in height.
But it’s doubtful that these turbines will survive either the wind or waves of a major storm. According to the National Hurricane Center, Category 3 hurricanes exhibit sustained winds of 111 to 129 mph, stronger than the design limits. Category 1 hurricanes typically drive waves much higher than 50 feet. Hurricane Florence measured Category 1 wind speeds when it crossed the coast at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina on September 14. But just two days before, wave heights of 83 feet were recorded on the northeast side of Florence.
Who speaks for the electricity rate payers of Virginia? It’s certainly not Governor Northam, the General Assembly, or Dominion Energy. Long after government officials leave office, Virginia citizens will be on the hook for an expensive offshore wind system that is unlikely to survive the turbulent weather of the Atlantic Ocean.
Originally published in The Western Journal., republished here at the request of the author. Steve Goreham is a speaker on the environment, business, and public policy and author of the book Outside the Green Box: Rethinking Sustainable Development.
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I can’t help but wonder how many relatives of the governor are going to make money off of these contracts.
Yep.
That’s why they need to vote out the politicians who pushed this through.
‘… vote out the politicians who pushed this through.”
They’re called Democrats. Voting for today’s Democrats is very much like voting for an army of Rats with fleas and disease to come descend on your home and family, simply because they seemed so cute and lovable in the movie Ratatouille.
Unfortunately Virginia has been absorbed by the ever expanding swamp. The people of southern Virginia will pay the price,
Maybe time for another Virginia split.
But saving the world.
Virginia is for Lovers
Of Uber high Energy Prices
It is why the Progressives first order of business was to get control of the Public School System. They intentionally dumb down the Public School Students and render them susceptible to the propaganda put forth by the primary media outlets. Today our urban Public Schools are graduating high school students with, on average, an 8th grade reading proficiency and 4th grade math skills, which renders them all too easy to dupe with political mumbo jumbo about bureaucrats saving the planet from all the Hobgoblins Mencken warned us about.
Bill Powers, I am sure that across our nation [and culture] there are many others like you … but I am particularly glad to see you voice your good opinion: it is these pro-globalist/anti-American govt indoctrination centers which have — for decades — and continue to dupe and brainwash MILLIONS of our young LEGAL American citizens.
Our REAL challenge — not the immoral and corrupt politicians as mentioned in the leading comment; whereas there are 1000’s of such politicians waiting in line to fill any ballot — IS that WE The People continue, time and again, to elect into public office such self-serving globalists, disguised as DemonRats.
In the meantime, good patriot, I trust that you will continue to spread the word. You know: the “word”, that is, the message that of our foundational American values, is critical for our survival as a Constitutional Republic.
PS: A request: do not play their game with the propagandistic language of the DemonRats: [1] they are Regressives [Retrogardes] … they are NOT Progressives; [2] they are Libertines … they are NOT Liberals; and, [3] by definition, they are Fascists … they are NOT Socialists. Of course, they use their terms because they want to appear “warm and cuddly” so that people will vote for them; where, rather, they are anything but so. Such propaganda is all part of their BIG LIE. [They cannot tell people of their true intentions — subjugation of the citizen, denial of his unalienable rights and installment of a centralized govt.]
While trying not to be too unkind about it, many Democratic voters aren’t paying for their electricity anyhow, so the costs are irrelevant to them.
While trying not to be too unkind about it, many Democratic voters aren’t paying for their electricity anyhow, so the costs are irrelevant to them.
Beyond the project cost, Virginians should be concerned that these wind turbines will likely not survive to the end of their projected 25-year life. The CVOW project is the southernmost proposed wind project along the Atlantic Coast and the site of periodic hurricane activity.
We have been unable to vote the crud out because of Northern Virginia Slimeballs–that mostly work for govt.
It would be fitting if the businesses that purchase large amounts of electricity would vote with their choice to move facilities to another state that is less corrupt in their decision making process.
Why hully gee! Only 26 times as high as wholesale for unreliable power? Green rent seeking at it’s finest!
Imagine if the cost is passed on to consumers.
Will a $200 monthly bill be closer to $5200?
Seems like the portion from this source will be.
This is insane.
Steve,
Are the calculations of price-per-KW (para 3) based on nameplate values or the more realistic capacity factor values from actual wind velocity/duration measurements at the proposed installed site?
The implications are obvious.
Nameplate. You have to look into the details to find what they actually plan to get (capacity/on stream). It’s like putting up a megawatt solar system and discovering they expect 4.8 mWh instead of 24 mWh, or 20% of nameplate.
Why doesn’t someone sue them to tie this up in the courts, perhaps even to challenge the IPCC’s fake science as it justified the ‘greater good’ rationalization?
Virginia a collection of blue state stupids deserves the hosing this asinine project is going to put on them…🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Not everyone here is deserving of your description. That would be mainly Tidewater and NOVA.
and you are paying a billion dollars for 25,000 more of them.
I would be moving if I lived there.
Ok now, them’s fightin’ words. I was born and bred and still live in the Tidewater area and I was always against it (more nukes). Has nothing to do with Tidewater other than we happen to be the area closest to the ocean. Dominion doesn’t want to do it, but they’re being forced to by all the Liberal do-gooders that think they’re going to save the planet. First, Dominion has been accused of stalling the project by the nannycrat environmentalists, and second the two windmills are a pilot project. Hopefully, some sanity will prevail by the time these things get built in the next couple years and it won’t go any farther.
I think juandos was closer to correct than you apparently realize. It didn’t reverse itself this year… https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Is-Battleground-Virginia-Turning-Blue-456149573.html
That is a rather offensive untrue declaration.
Do you have any facts or evidence to prove that claim?
Virginia has an elected government. Its citizens voted for this platform.
Do you yourself believe they will win reelection to stay in power, or be voted out of office for such a waste of resources?
NoVA and the Tidewater area have gone blue, and they dominate the state population… the Democrats responsible for this travesty are virtually guaranteed to be re-elected.
Tidewater has not gone Blue. In fact Virginia Beach was just listed as one of the Top Ten most conservative cities in the US. Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News are all rather conservative because of the military. A number of bases in that area.
I moved to Virginia in 1980. At the time the Capital Beltway (I-495) was only two lanes in each direction and the Northern Virginia area was only about 15% of Virginia’s total population.
Now, Northern Virginia has expanded area wise, because of the huge growth of the federal government. With all the direct Federal employees, all the government contractors, and the people who have growing businesses because of the growth of the Federal government, Northern Virginia’s population now accounts for about 35% of Virginia’s total population. And they vote Democrat. No wonder we’ve become a Purple state; we’re not completely Blue yet, but darn close.
By the way, the Capital Beltway (I-495), is up to 8 lanes each way on some stretches and it still jams up.
Needless to say, those idiots in Norther Virginia have surpassed the population of Tidewater by quite a margin, and they now dictate the statewide elections for Governor and US. Senate.
Please clarify that only SOME of its citizens voted for this. There are many of us who didn’t and would prefer not to be lumped in with the rest. Yes, unfortunately we were outvoted this time.
Offshore Wind Turbines are ideal for the purposes of sadists and masochists. The sadists enjoy inflicting the pain of paying for this risky extravagance on tariff payers and some wealthy masochistic tariff payers enjoy feeling the financial pain of paying their bills to assuage their conscience burdened by environmental sins. In the future, the rusting ruins of these curiosities will provide picturesque attractions for tourists and mussels.
karin-ann tesdorf,
“the rusting ruins of these curiosities will provide picturesque attractions for tourists and mussels.”
I think you spelled “monstrosities” wrong. 🙂
Someone has to calculate how much coal has to be consumed to create those wind towers. Add those emissions to the cost of electricity and it is going to be a Very Long Payback.
As a resident of Virginia, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to pay increasingly higher electricity rates to support wind and solar boondoggles.
Saaay… Aren’t you that guy in Animal House that was getting whacks and kept saying, “Thank you, sir! May I have another?”
Thought I recognized you.
😜
Kevin Bacon was one of those fraternity pledges receiving the ritualistic paddling. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon rears its head again!
You forgot the “sarc” tag ? …I hope…..
Marcus,
I live in Virginia too, and have to deal with this. He didn’t need a /sarc tag. It’s not funny.
Bob
Well, you already know what part of your future will look like (REAL high power bills).
Here’s another peek at the future: this summer I drove thru Colorado corn fields right after a “nature event” (hail storm) and saw fields of stalks – no leaves, no corn, just stalks.
Sometime over the next 25 years, I expect to see somewhat the same with windmills….
Amazing what corrupt politicians and willfully ignorant voters can accomplish!
Many of the voters are dead, fictional or repeat customers. Another large segment of the voters are considered “under privileged” and are entitled to significant utility subsidies, so the Normals will not only have to pay much higher prices for their power, but will also see Community Service rate hikes too so that the low-income residents can keep their big screen TVs running.
I suspect even Virginian’s aren’t stupid enough to pay for this hot steaming mess all by themselves. I’m guessing the ole’ Federal taxpayer gets dragged into this FUBAR project.
Of course, on the positive side and given what frequently happens to windmills on land, we will now be able to combine whale & windmill-burning watching from the same boat.
I blame the MSM for choosing sides of the politics and politics for choosing sides of unsettled science, neither should ever be tolerated and the combination is fatal to the science.
Both chose the side with the deepest pockets
Thank you for this article.
I hope the virtue-signalling imbeciles making the decisions in my country read this.
I am worried that they will get only the MSM spin and want to copy, as my poor country is wont to do.
The virtue-signalling imbeciles in Australia wouldn’t read a blog, nor would they understand the problem if they did. They are fully committed to be the best imbeciles that Australia can produce. And they are doing a bang-up job at it too. Ever since Julia Gillard hit the scenes, we’ve gone from an OK government, to one of utter stupid on steroids backward brained dead-head ignoramus idiots (and I’m being polite).
so true and the worst are the LINO’s who are scared to take a different (conservative, rational) policy position on so many subjects to the green-left hordes who have them sh*tting in their parliamentary pants, they are just useful fools for the green-left.
If you think facts would change any of their minds at this point, you haven’t been paying attention.
Hey Virginians……eh, never mind.
Sometimes you just can’t fix stoopid !
Is the 3 cents per kwh figure you cite correct. In Washington we have a lot of hydroelectric plants built years ago, and we pay about 12 cents. Still an awfully big difference from the wind farm you are discussing.
Yes, it is. Shockingly, this is a news to most people. In Connecticut as in Wash. and most states the 2 to 3 cents is typical and it changes marginally pending contract negotiations over the years. That’s the cost for making electricity: pay for fuels, dividends, debt servicing, taxes, maintenance, pensions, ………. a rather small part of your 12 cents. It is worse here – 18 c/kWh.
Don,
3 cents per kWh is the wholesale price, the price that generators get. The retail price, which is paid by homeowners, is about 12 cents per kWh
There is the small matter of getting the power from where it is produced into everyone’s home.
Not of component of that infrastructure is what anyone would call cheap or a breeze to maintain.
And if no one were making a profit, who would do it?
Its not the governor, its indeed the Virginia voter and rate payer who is responsible for bringing this on themselves. Talk about ” values”. They couldnt vote for Trump because he said some vulgar things and was plain spoken, nevermind that he’ s putting Americans back to work, cutting their taxes, standing up to international economic cheaters, bullies and terrorists, repatriating industries, chopping government fat, rebuilding the military, thwarting Anti-American destructive Champagne Soshulist’s plans and recovering sovereignty. No they like sweet talking тоталiтагуаиs who whose plans for ordinary citizens is serfdom.
BTW, I’m not even American. Just a thankful neighbor who knows that any hope for avoiding a new Dark Age, far worse than its namesake 1400yrs ago, lies in the success of this ill-spoken but presceint, determined President Trump. Hey, I’m from the politest country in the world but I can tell gold from the fool’s variety.
I wish more Americans had your clarity…
I’m from the Great White North too, rooting for pro-life, pro-common sense Trump, while wearing a bag over my head because the rest of the country voted in a idiot pot-head with a famous name as our Lord Vader.
Just because they think it is free. When the wind blows, it isnt even free then, because you have to shut down the backup.
Until the wind blows too hard…
If we are fortunate, shortly after they are installed, fully paid for, and as functional as they will ever get, a hurricane will wipe them off the map. Poetic justice that would be and an object lesson. We need object lessons.
Proudly, if the Virginians then go out there and set them up again after the hurricane, Im goibg to open up a branch office of something there to see if I can sell some fool’s gold.
If you do, please hire me. I’m local, didn’t vote for this cr*p, and would be more than happy to scam….er….skim some recreational income from those idiots (hey, wait…)
Is someone insuring this project? If not, I guess the citizens get hosed again.
Its not the governor, its indeed the Virginia voter and rate payer who is responsible for bringing this on themselves.
Hear, Hear.
Residents of Virginia certainly appreciate the opportunity to pay increasingly higher electricity rates to support wind and solar boondoggles.
This demonstration project was approved by the State Corporation Commission because the VA state legislature resolved it was in the state’s interest to fund the Offshore Wind project, regardless of its inane economics. I find its timing in relation to Jeff Bezos/ Amazon’s decision to site HQ2 in Crystal City, an office-shopping complex in Arlington, VA, right across the Potomac R from Trump’s WH is a bit more than coincidental. Sort of a double FU to DT.
Gerard O’Dowd,
Don’t know where you’re from, but you’re partly right. It was approved by the SCC, but a long time ago, before Amazon in DC and way before Trump was elected. These things take time (thank G*d), and Dominion has been accused of delaying the project after winning the rights to develop it. they’re being forced to do it, but not by Amazon, Trump, or me (I just get the bill).
Climate Change is the Democrat’s religion… a pagan religion with an idolatry straight out of the Old Testament’s mold.
The wind turbines are their idols. And like everything the Democrats do today, they demand the People pay for their religious icons and idols to offer sacrifice (other People’s sacrifice) to their pagan climate god.
Democrat’s are intent on destroying Judeo-Christian morality, because those morals are founded on the Ten Commandments.
1st: You shall have no other Gods but me.
2nd: You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor bow down to it or worship it.
The Democrats are making wind turbines and solar installations their climate idols. And Climate is their pagan god.
In addition to the frequency of hurricanes mentioned in the article, and their catastrophic damage potential, there is this:
“The Graveyard of the Atlantic.
“From the Outer Banks of North Carolina north to the southern entrance of Chesapeake Bay off the Virginia coastline, two forces collide to create stormy, dangerous seas on a regular basis. One of those forces is the Labrador Current, which is an arctic stream of icy water that originates off the coast of Greenland. The other is the Gulf Stream, which contains warm waters from the Caribbean.
“When these two forces collide in the Atlantic Ocean near the Outer Banks of North Carolina, rough seas and dense fog are usually the result. Some of the areas known for dangerous seas include Cape Hatteras, Cape Fear, and Diamond Shoals.
“In addition to severe weather, these areas also have strong currents that can cause sandbars to shift and thus make it hard to navigate. It is believed that Blackbeard the Pirate used these factors to his advantage to keep from being captured. There is no doubt that this section of the Atlantic Ocean is extremely dangerous. The ocean floor in this area contains the relics of thousands of ships.
“So many shipwrecks occurred that the government eventually required that lifesaving stations be built every seven miles along the coast of the Outer Banks. These stations and their personnel would later become the United States Coast Guard.”
(source of the above quoted text: https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/where-is-the-graveyard-of-the-atlantic )
Virginia Beach is basically at the northern end of the Outer Banks. Sounds like a pretty good place to locate an offshore wind turbine farm, doesn’t it? Imagine: massive cargo ships heading into/out of nearby Chesapeake Bay having to navigate around large fixed structures 27 miles away from shore in dense fog or in heavy storms . . . yeah, right . . . better have triple-redundant GPS, emergency electrical power, main propulsion and steering systems.
It is worth noting that this is a pilot facility/demonstrator involving only two turbines.
That isn’t going to provide very meaningful information about the costs of a large scale deployment with economies of scale.
ONLY two turbines that ONLY cost $150,000,000 each !… D’OH !
Philip Schaeffer ,
+42. I’ve been trying to make this point as I made my way through this thread before I got to your comment.
(comment from 1 hour ago lost to the ether again. sigh.)
“an expensive offshore wind system that is unlikely to survive the turbulent weather of the Atlantic Ocean.”
That is the good news. You won’t have to pay to demolish them.
Deepwater Wind built nameplate 30mw offshore RHode island. Pays a HUGE
premium to them for gauranteeed rates and they sell it 3 years later for a 100% profit to a
Danish company to get the gauranteed subsidies and now
Deepwater is proposing a second offwhore wind group.
The wacko greens have got people payings now billions of dollars in Rhode Island
alone for intermittent electric.
The wave of mass hysteria has reached inane levels.
Also, Deepwater was sooooo proud that it shut down in a storm successfully they
printed it everywhere any green person was to show how cool it was to have a windmill
that automatically shut down, not produce electric.
I seem to remember the sustained winds were only at 50mph.
A Siemens Gamesa 6Mw offshore wind turbine features a 154 meter/505 feet rotor diameter. Once completed, I hope there will be video of the first hurricane that gets even close to these things. It would be informative; perhaps entertaining.
I have a question, though. Is 27 miles out a normal placement? The Block Island project off RI is about four miles out.
my guess is 27 miles is how far offshore they need to be to not be visible from the beach. Green hokum meets tourism aesthetics.
Joel O’Bryan,
It has to do with a lot of things, including aesthetics (can’t piss off the tourists), but you have to remember the military, mostly Navy and Air Force, are big in this area and they do a lot of training off the Virginia coast.
You know how stops signs and other road signs tend to get shot up in very remote regions of the mid-west and west in the US because it’s almost certain that nobody is around to witness? Just saying the Navy and Air force . . . well, you know, as part of training, . . .