OFFSHORE WIND MEDIA ADVISORY:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, September 17, 2019
Contact: Karen Hinton, karen@karenhinton.com, 703-798-3109
Dominion Energy and the Business Network for Offshore Wind are hosting a conference about Virginia’s first deep dive into Federal Waters and the topic of ports and logistics on September 19-20th at the Hilton Norfolk.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam will be the keynote speaker on September 19th at 2:30 pm. Introducing Governor Northam will be his Chief of Staff, Clark Mercer. Also in attendance is Carter Hutchinson, the Governor’s Deputy Policy Director.
Governor Northam will discuss the state’s new offshore wind goal to produce 100 percent electricity from carbon-free sources by 2050. Announced today, the statewide goals will help reduce environmental impacts, mitigate the impacts of climate change and boost the clean energy economy in Virginia. By 2030, 30 percent of the state’s electric system will be served by renewable energy resources and by 2050, 100 percent of Virginia’s electricity will be generated by carbon-free sources, such as wind, solar and nuclear. Up to 2,500 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind will be developed on an accelerated timeline by 2026.
With 112,799 acres of commercial area already leased and the potential to support the 2,500 megawatts of wind generation, Virginia is all about scale. After more than a decade in the making, the US offshore wind sector is moving beyond successfully installing offshore wind turbines in state waters and moving into the larger power potential of federal waters. Existing federal leases within the Atlantic waters and with the potential of scale, the US now has a strong and growing pipeline. Primary components are increasing in size and vessels are being planned for the US market. Now is the time to review the East Coasts ports’ present assets and to start the discussion on how optimal logistics may counter potential costly overruns.
Dominion and partners Ørsted and LEMeyers are taking the first deep dive into Federal water with the 2 x 6 MW turbines expected to start spinning next year. With the project already started, the lessons learned from this invaluable deployment will help the industry and supply chain businesses successfully ramp up to utility scale. In addition, research and support from Old Dominion University will help prepare the workforce and further drive down the cost of offshore wind via innovations. With additional State procurements coming in 2020 and 2022, now is the time to enter the offshore wind industry. Let’s take a closer look, learn, help and get involved!
The Business Network for Offshore Wind and Dominion Energy are co-organizing the one-and-a-half day 2019 Sea to Land Conference & Exhibition to bring together the supply-chain business community with federal and state government officials to accelerate Virginia’s inclusion of large-scale offshore wind within the state’s energy mix.
Location:
HILTON NORFOLK
100 East Main St.
Norfolk, VA 23510
Agenda: Thursday, September 19
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7:30am
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Registration Open & Networking Breakfast
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8:30am
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Welcome & US Market Overview
The importance of ports, the need for bringing efficient logistics into mainstream discussions and Advantage Virginia
Liz Burdock, Business Network for Offshore Wind
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8:40am
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The Rise of Virginia’s Offshore Wind
Mark D. Mitchell Vice President, Dominion Energy – Generation Construction
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8:55am
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Welcome
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9:00am
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Does a Coordinated Port Strategy Make Sense for the East Coast? And How Do We Get There?
The US is unlikely to have a custom built offshore wind port with perfect, modern terminals with high pier strengths, dredge free deep channels, abundant waterside storage, and clear air daft for the tallest of the offshore wind components. The alternative to a customized central port is a coordinated but decentralized activities over multiple ports. Deciding which terminals are matched with suitable functions for deployment activities within a specific window of time in proximity of the offshore construction activity at a realistic cost, is a challenge. How are these challenges to be overcome and for how long?
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10:00am
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Let’s Talk Vessels (Construction and O&M) Offshore wind is unlikely to secure a waiver to the Jones Act so what are the implications? As-sume the growing pipeline of projects provides sufficient assurance for private financiers to in-vest in vessels – what functions will the vessels be required to perform? How many vessels will be needed for a) construction, b) major repairs and c) operations and maintenance?
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11:30pm
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Port and Logistical for Construction and Operation Phases
Building upon the port strategy there is a need to match land based infrastructure to suit vessel design and availability along with managing the logistical coordination as efficiently as possible to minimize deployment costs.
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1:30pm
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Innovations In Heavy Lift and Transport Specialized roll-on/roll-off (ro-ro) vessels, heavy capacity hydraulic modular trailers, or SPMTs, with many axels are being increasingly used to drive components such as nacelles weighing over 350 tons onto and off roll-on/roll-off vessels. SPMTs are a cost-effective load mobilization system and can be combined with barges to use the inland waterways. Barges are also used not only for wind turbines but other heavy cargoes such as transformers and generators. Once at site, specialized Handling Tools and Heavy Lift Cranes can safely and efficiently place the nacelles and blades into position offshore.
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2:30pm
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Virginia Governor Northam speaks on offshore wind.
Following Governor Northam speech is a panel discussion on supply chain joint ventures.
Supply Chain Joint Ventures Offshore wind construction requires pools of specialized assets, skills, experience and judgment – for this reason supply chain members are likely to cluster into working synergistic teams or carry out specialized activities in quasi joint ventures. In addition to the performance effi-ciency and therefore the competitiveness created by the clusters or joint ventures, the focused expertise is likely to win the confidence of the debt financing banks which in turn will help build the US supply chain capacity.
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Friday, September 20
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8:30am
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Opening Remarks Including: Update on Virginia Project(s) – Coastal Offshore Virginia
Given that the deployment of the 2 X 6MW turbines in the research area officially started in the summer of 2019, this briefing will provide timeline updates for the key milestones, including grid connection along with future plans for the commercial lease area
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9:00am
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Federal, State & Local Resources to Support the Offshore Wind Industry and Supply Chain
As Virginia starts the construction of the USA’s first installation in Federal waters there will be an increasing call upon the national, state and local public sector groups to provide support to establish and grow a local supply chain.
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10:00am
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Think Globally, Act Locally
The world used that last 30 years to deploy 20GW of offshore wind and according to IRENA, the next 30 years will witness a global growth with an additional 500 GW of offshore wind. This will global growth provides US supply chain companies opportunities to export their products and services thereby further amortizing Capex expenditures and lowering costs. How companies should think globally while working locally?
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11:15am
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This Side and Just Over the Horizon: Supply Chain Opportunities
Dominion Energy, with contractors Ørsted for the installation of the two turbines and L.E. Myers Company for the onshore electrical design and construction, are taking the first deep dive into Federal water with the 2 x 6 MW turbines expected to start spinning next year.
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12:15pm
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Wrap Up Key points and future milestones
Ross Tyler, Business Network for Offshore Wind
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