Port of Virginia leases 40 acres to offshore wind company at Portsmouth terminal, Northam says

Virginia’s shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy got a boost Tuesday when Gov. Ralph Northam announced a 40-acre lease to a European-based wind energy company.

Orsted, based in Denmark, will pay nearly $13 million to the Port of Virginia to stage equipment at Portsmouth Marine Terminal needed to build an offshore wind farm.

The city of Portsmouth will not get any of the money from the lease, but Mayor John Rowe says there are other benefits.

The offshore wind farm — dubbed the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project — will create an estimated 14,000 jobs, Northam said Tuesday. Plus, Rowe said his city will be part of what’s expected to become a $70 billion market in the United States over the next several years.

“To be at the threshold of an industry that will set us free from fossil fuels is exciting and important,” Rowe said at the swanky Town Point Club inside the World Trade Center in downtown Norfolk where state and local officials gathered to listen to the governor.

Dominion has started building two 600-foot-tall wind turbines off the coast of Virginia

Portsmouth Marine Terminal opened in 1967 and is one of a handful of terminals operated by the Port of Virginia in and around Hampton Roads. Its 287 acres are located along the west bank of the Elizabeth River just by the Midtown Tunnel. It was once a bustling container terminal that shuttered around 2010 shortly after the port signed a long-term lease for Virginia International Gateway. It reopened in 2014 as a “relief valve” as the port expanded two of its major container terminals, Virginia International Gateway and Norfolk International Terminals.

The port’s goal was to find an outside company to use the space for something else, port spokesman Joe Harris said.

“We have a potential to drive offshore wind for Virginia but also for the entire East Coast,” Northam said during his announcement. “We are so well positioned here in Hampton Roads with the port.”

Orsted will soon begin shipping pieces of equipment — some of it already assembled — to the terminal where it will then be worked on and shipped out to the work site.

The lease agreement will go through 2026 and will start with an initial lease of 1.7 acres with the option to expand to 40. The marine terminal will also be upgraded to accommodate the heavy equipment being moved around the terminal berth, port officials said.

Orsted partnered with Dominion Energy, starting with two 6-megawatt turbines that will power some 3,000 homes with emissions-free energy. It’s the first offshore wind project in federal waters. The site is located 24 nautical miles off Virginia Beach.

The turbines are massive — rising 600 feet from the ocean’s surface.

The two turbines are a test run as Dominion has long-term plans to install enough to generate 2,000 megawatts of power, which would supply up to half a million homes. The two turbines are supposed to be operational in December 2020.