Boosted By the Breeze

Portsmouth is becoming a national hub for offshore wind energy development

DOMINION ENERGY

By Joel Rubin

t’s unlikely the 45 high school welders who boarded luxury coaches on April 20 for a field trip to a future manufacturing site knew exactly where they were headed.

If you live in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and even Portsmouth, the homes of those trades people in training, taking a spin around an 80-acre site at the Portsmouth Marine Terminal (PMT), where Siemens Gamesa will construct a $200-million offshore wind blade finishing plant, was more than a magical mystery tour. Unless you drive west through the Midtown Tunnel and look over to your right, you probably have not seen the future of America’s newest industry, either. Today that full 287-acre parcel, owned by the Virginia Port Authority VPA), is mostly vacant because another VPA terminal in Portsmouth, Virginia International Gateway (VIG), is much larger, more modern, and efficient. The big container vessels go to VIG, so VPA is leasing out PMT to support Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, to rise 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, and others coming along the coast. Dominion itself is renting 72 acres at PMT. Denmark-based Orsted, which built Dominion’s two existing pilot turbines, is taking another two with an option for 40 more. PMT may have little value for international shippers today, but for the offshore wind industry, the site is “second to none,” according to Dominion Energy’s Chairman and CEO Bob Blue. “It has deep water access, no overhead restrictions, and sufficient space for these large wind infrastructure components. It is perfectly situated to serve the Virginia offshore wind project and grow the domestic supply chain needed to complete other offshore wind projects in the United States.” “Offshore wind for Portsmouth is going to be a game changer,” said Mayor Shannon Glover at the Siemens Gamesa announcement last October. When it’s completed in 2023, the factory should have 260 jobs available with potentially many more on the way, accordant to Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy president

WINDSdays, along with area partners, took 45 high school welders (above) from three area cities to the Portsmouth Marine Terminal to see the site of a future offshore wind blade finishing plant. They gathered (pictured opposite) for a group photo in the lobby of the TCC Portsmouth student center after the tour.

Steve Slaney. “We hope to actually produce blades for up and down the east coast here in the future.” That makes sense to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. “If they’re going to be finishing and assembling the blades here,” said the former Michigan Governor when she was in Portsmouth in October, “the next step would be getting the full blade manufacturing here and then the full tower and nacelle manufacturing too because they will be adjacent to the ship that will install them at sea.” That’s the key. Each blade will be the size of a football field plus the end zone so after they arrive in Portsmouth from Europe to receive their coat of gel, they must be loaded back on Dominion’s massive 472-foot Charybdis for conveyance to the wind farm without ever touching a roadway. Charybdis will be homeported here as will other boats to serve the industry. That’s why local shipyards are excited. “There’s going to be a lot of support vessels needed for this,” says Don Everton of Lyon Shipyard in Norfolk. “That’s going to take ship repair companies to maintain them.” Dominion Senior Vice President Bill Murray calls the Siemens Gamesa plant, “the anchor tenant in the mall,” because it will likely attract supply chain vendors to the region and state. “We could not be happier to bring a significant economic development opportunity here, and this is the leading tip of what will be a transformational industry for Hampton Roads and for here in Portsmouth.” Mayor Glover spoke to those

The Portsmouth wind blade finishing plant should have 260 jobs available with potentially many more on the way.

45 welders when they visited PMT and then TCC in Portsmouth to learn how and why they should consider pursuing a career in the skilled trades. “These jobs will pay a true living wage,” he told them. The tour and event on April 20 were coordinated by the Hampton Roads Workforce Council and the WINDSdays campaign with assistance from Accelerate Apprenticeships and Junior Achievement Hampton Roads. The partners will replicate it in the fall for senior high school welders in Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News. “Seeing the future up close and hearing about the career opportunities from industry and education leaders is eye opening,” says the HRWC’s Shawn Avery. “Offshore wind will not only generate enough electricity to power 660,000 households in Virginia, but thousands of jobs too, starting in Portsmouth.” So the mayor is right. It’s a game changer.

Joel Rubin, a former network affiliate TV reporter and anchor in Hampton Roads, is president of Rubin Communications Group and a freelance writer. He is also director of the WINDSdays campaign to promote clean energy.