Deepwater Wind Energy Center 'will be nation

Dominion Virginia Power wins offshore wind energy auction

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) conducted the auction. Eight companies, including Dominion, were approved to bid, but only two firms participated. The auction lasted six rounds.

BOEM has several milestones that Dominion must meet to keep the lease with the final milestone being the submittal of a construction and operations plan within five years of signing the lease.

Once BOEM has the plan, it has an undetermined amount of time to perform an environmental analysis and approve the plan. Dominion expects the first turbine to be installed in about 10 years pending project approval by state regulators.

Dominion Virginia Power won the right to develop wind energy off the Virginia coast in a federal lease auction today with a bid of more than $1.6 million.

Dominion Virginia Power’s apparent win beat out Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

The federal government’s auction of