Dominion Energy reported $1 billion in net income in the third quarter, which saw it remain on track with its offshore wind project while its pipeline of data center customers grew yet again.
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project should see its first turbine installed later in November, with the first power delivery expected in the first quarter of 2026, Dominion CEO Robert Blue told analysts during a conference call held Oct. 31. Additional strings of turbines will be installed until the project’s completion target near the end of 2026.
“The project is now two-thirds complete and just a few months away from delivering much needed electricity to our customers,” Blue said.
While the project’s progress is on schedule now, analysts wondered if the upcoming gubernatorial election could throw it off. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is term limited, and U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) is leading in polls ahead of Election Day on Nov. 4.
All the candidates running for statewide office support CVOW, but one analyst asked what risk the project faced with a Democrat likely to become governor given how the Trump administration has treated offshore wind and other energy projects in Democratic-led states.
“It’s the fastest way to get 2.6 GW on the grid that’s going to serve AI and technology companies, defense security installations,” Blue said. “It’s critical to important infrastructure upgrades at the Oceana Naval Air Station. And if you stop it now, it causes energy inflation. So, it’s not surprising that we’re seeing bipartisan support at all levels of government, and we expect that to continue after the election.”
Dominion is also facing some delays in getting the ship it had built to install many of the wind plant’s components — the Charybdis — to work. The vessel is compliant with the Jones Act, which requires U.S.-owned and crewed vessels when sailing domestically, and was meant to “derisk” construction.
“This is the first Jones Act-compliant wind turbine insulation vessel to be built in the U.S. and subject to U.S. regulatory oversight,” Blue said. “It’s a big ship. It’s 472 feet long. It’s 184 feet wide. It weighs 27,000 tons. It’s got some complex systems on it. It’s got a 2,200-ton capacity crane. It’s got a jacking system that’s capable of creating a 40-meter air gap under the hull when the ship is jacked up.”
It was delivered to Portsmouth, Va., in October. Regulators there identified some issues that needed to be fixed before it can get to work. Regulators had concerns with the electrical systems, which Dominion’s workers are painstakingly reviewing, and some documentation issues, Blue said.
“To date, we’ve done over 4,000 inspections across 69 electrical systems, including 1,400 cable inspections,” Blue said. “We’ve got 200 people working around the clock. Of that original 200 punch-list items, we’ve closed out about 120, so it’s important to know not all those items are created equal. Some punch-list items are a little more complex and will take longer to resolve, but the progress has been really good.”
While for now Dominion expects CVOW to be fully installed by the end of 2026, the Charybdis’ issues could push that back to early 2027, Blue said.
Dominion now has 47 GW of data centers at various levels of development in its pipeline, which is up from 40 GW at the end of 2024, Blue said. The biggest chunk of those, 28.2 GW, is in the least-certain category, defined as only asking for an engineering study from the utility.
An additional 9 GW have signed a construction letter of authorization, which means Dominion can start work on upgrading infrastructure and the data center has to pay even if it walks away. And 9.8 GW have signed an electric service agreement, which defines how the data center will take service and lays out cost recovery.
“We welcome these customers to our system and recognize the vital contribution data centers make to national, state and community success,” Blue said. “We’re developing resources across distribution, transmission and generation to ensure we meet this critical need on a timely basis, while also taking active steps to safeguard all of our customers from the risk of paying more than their fair share for reliable and affordable electric service.”
