June 18, 2021 — The automated controllers for the 253-foot blades on Dominion Energy Virginia’s two wind turbines, 27 miles off the Virginia Beach shore, had aimed them just a few degrees west of due north, so a 12-knot wind could turn them at a stately ten revolutions a minute.
And so, pumping some 12 megawatts of power back to the grid, it was another day of learning for the electric utility’s wind-power pilot project, as Dominion prepares to see how turbines perform in the calmer days of summer.
Dominion is planning to spend roughly $8 billion to install roughly 180 wind turbines, one third again as tall as the pilot project duo. The aim is to meet a General Assembly directive that it not emit any of the greenhouse gases by 2045.
Burning coal, oil and natural gas produces carbon gas emissions. Wind does not. When the wind farm is up and running it will generate enough electricity to power 660,000 homes.