Construction of Dominion wind turbine project in Croatan stressing out Virginia Beach residents

VIRGINIA BEACH — First his house started shaking, then came the sound — like a vacuum or a hairdryer — coupled with bright lights and the beep, beep, beeping of trucks.

 

And it goes on 24 hours a day.

 

John Knight and his neighbors in Croatan didn’t expect the work related to Dominion Energy’s offshore wind project would be so disruptive. Now, they’re wishing they had tried to stop it.

 

Dominion Energy will erect 176 wind turbines 27 miles off Virginia Beach’s coast. But bringing the energy the turbines produce to the power grid also means heavy construction on land. Large, clunky machines are drilling holes in the ground and laying nine large pipes on the rifle range at State Military Reservation, formerly Camp Pendleton. Cables transmitting energy from Dominion’s wind turbine farm will land there.

 

“Even with earplugs you can hear it,” Knight said.

 

From his house, he can see some of the equipment just past the fence that divides Croatan’s public parking lot from the military base.

 

Dominion Energy has held public information sessions and sent mailers to residents to inform them about the cable landing work, but Knight said he didn’t fully understand the extent to which it would impact him and his neighbors.

 

“I feel like we got a little blindsided,” he said this week. “I had no idea it was going to be an industrial complex out here.”

 

Bright lights shining on the construction site and the smell of diesel in the air just adds more insult to injury, said Knight, who along with others have reached out to Dominion Energy about their concerns.

 

“There have been multiple opportunities with engagement and keeping neighbors updated,” said Dominion Energy spokesperson Carrie Pace. “But understandably some people really noticed it once it started.”

 

Dominion ramped up the project over the past couple of weeks. On March 1, several vessels arrived just off of the beach where they will be working periodically through the summer, to install undersea pipes that will connect to the landing site. The pipes will extend from about 1,800 feet offshore to the beach.

 

More drilling and pipe laying will occur later under Lake Christine and Lake Rudee, Pace said. The transmission cables will then continue underground along Bells Road and above ground through other parts of the city. Trees are currently being removed to make way for the project.

 

When complete, Dominion’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is expected to generate power for roughly 660,000 homes.

 

Before the drilling began, Dominion performed a sound study to verify the activity would be within the limits of city and state military, Pace said. The company is permitted to work day and night and is looking into the sound issues residents are experiencing, she said.

 

“We recognize that people can still hear things overnight,” said Pace. “We do take those concerns very seriously.”

 

Last week, Dominion installed vibration monitoring equipment close to the residences — giving the company data to review.

 

But Knight said the unit is at ground level, and he mostly feels his three-story house shake on the upper levels.

 

The rocking feeling sticks with Knight, even when he’s not home.

 

Julie Brown also lives in the south end of Croatan near the project. She works from home and has a difficult time blocking out the equipment’s constant beeping.

 

“It drives me insane,” said Brown, who is a medical doctor.

 

Some days, her desk on the third floor shakes. She recently bought a sound mask to wear at night to help her sleep.

 

Brown said she also feels like the extent of the cable landing work wasn’t clearly conveyed to her neighborhood.

 

In addition to the personal inconvenience, residents also have expressed concern about the impact to wildlife.

 

Over the past several days, Knight and other neighbors have found thick, black, plastic spiral shavings on the beach, which he believes are coming from the pipe drilling operation. He has two of the pieces displayed on his coffee table with seashells and seaglass that he also found on the beach.

 

Knight and others have grown concerned that the loud sounds and jarring vibrations could have a negative effect on marine life, particularly after learning three dead whales recently washed up on area beaches. Conservationists have speculated that the whale deaths may be part of a multi-year trend of vessel strikes or entanglement with fishing gear.

 

A fourth whale washed up on Nags Head beach Friday and later died.

 

A 2022 Dominion Energy report provided to the National Ocean Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that the near shore work has the “potential to cause acoustic harassment to marine mammals.”

 

The Marine Mammal Protection Act defines two different levels of harassment, ranging from having the potential to disrupt behavioral patterns to causing injury.

 

“We have no idea the way these sounds, and vibrations and technologies are running through this water,” said Croatan resident Patrick McLaughlin.

 

Pace said the pipe drilling work on the military reservation will be completed in August, and Dominion will try to address residents’ complaints.

 

“We do want to minimize the impacts while still getting the work done, so that in the end we can get out of their way as soon as possible, safely and on time,” she said.

 

Knight has been sharing the sights and sounds from the cable landing work on social media in hopes he will help others be proactive and prepared if an offshore wind project heads their way.

 

“I probably would have gotten more involved if I had known what was going to happen,” Knight said.

 

Mariner’s updates, including March information about the near-shore vessels supporting direct pipe work: https://coastalvawind.com/partnerships/supporting-fisheries.aspx

 

Basics of the transmission route onshore: https://coastalvawind.com/about-offshore-wind/delivering-wind-power.aspx