William D. Sessoms Jr., mayor of Virginia Beach, Va., and industry leaders have announced the creation of a new organization to promote offshore wind energy in Virginia.
The Virginia Offshore Wind (VOW) coalition includes developers, manufacturers, utilities, localities, businesses and environmental groups. The goals of the coalition are to promote the development of offshore wind energy in Virginia and to develop the Hampton Roads area of the state as the hub of manufacturing and supply for future offshore wind farms on the East Coast.
‘The market opportunity for Virginia to become the East Coast hub for offshore wind manufacturing and logistics is approximately $80 billion and represents more than 10,000 new jobs for our state,’ says Josh Prueher, president of Earl Industries and vice chairman of VOW. ‘We must act now to capture it.’
Last summer, Sessoms created the Mayor's Alternative Energy Task Force to study new green energy sources for Virginia Beach, Hampton Roads and the state. Wind energy was identified as one likely source of alternative energy.
VOW is working closely with Virginia legislators to place the state in a position of leadership within the industry. The coalition is working on state legislation that will make Virginia competitive with other states pursuing offshore wind.
Coalition members include Apex Offshore Wind, AREVA, BAE Systems Ship Repair, the city of Virginia Beach, Colonna's Shipyard, Dominion Virginia Power, Earl Industries, Fugro Atlantic, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, Science Applications International Corp., Seawind Renewable Energy Corp., Weeks Marine and W. F. Magann.
SOURCE: The Virginia Offshore Wind Coalition
