Dominion Energy's 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind Farm Delivers First Power to the Grid After Surviving Federal Stop-Work Order
The 2.6 GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, America's largest offshore wind farm, delivered first power on March 23 after overcoming a federal stop-work order that added $230 million in costs to the $11.5 billion project.
Overview
The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, known as CVOW, delivered its first electricity to the regional power grid on March 23, 2026, marking a milestone for the largest offshore wind farm in the United States. The 2.6 gigawatt facility, located 27 to 44 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, reached the achievement after more than a decade of development and a protracted legal battle with the federal government over a stop-work order issued in late 2025.
Dominion Energy CEO Robert Blue stated that CVOW delivered its first power “right on schedule,” as reported by Offshore Wind. The project’s first fully completed turbine began spinning and generating approximately 14.7 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply roughly 3,675 homes.
What We Know
Project scale and construction status
CVOW will comprise 176 Siemens Gamesa 14-megawatt turbines spread across a federal lease area acquired for $1.6 million in 2013. All 176 monopile foundations have been installed, and the project is more than 70 percent complete, according to CleanTechnica. Dominion Energy expects full completion by early 2027, at which point the wind farm will generate enough electricity to power approximately 660,000 homes.
The first turbine was placed by the Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant wind turbine installation vessel built in the United States. The vessel was constructed at Seatrium’s AmFels shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, and commissioned specifically for the CVOW project, as detailed by Offshore Wind.
Regulatory challenges and cost overruns
The U.S. Interior Department issued a stop-work order on December 22, 2025, halting construction on CVOW and four other Atlantic coast offshore wind projects, citing unspecified national security concerns related to radar interference. Dominion Energy filed for a temporary restraining order the following day. On January 16, 2026, a federal judge in Norfolk granted a preliminary injunction, ruling the suspension was overly broad and allowing construction to resume, according to Offshore Wind.
The approximately 25-day work stoppage cost Dominion an estimated $228 million, at a rate of roughly $5 million per day. The project’s total budget has risen to $11.5 billion, with tariff-related costs contributing an additional $137 million. Dominion has projected total tariff exposure through early 2027 at approximately $580 million, according to CleanTechnica.
Customer impact and economics
Dominion Energy has estimated that CVOW will add approximately 43 cents per month to residential customer electricity bills. The company projects $3 billion in fuel cost savings during the wind farm’s first 10 years of operation, noting that offshore wind performs best during winter months when electricity demand peaks, as reported by CleanTechnica.
Why It Matters
CVOW’s first power delivery represents the most tangible proof yet that large-scale offshore wind can reach operational milestones in the United States despite regulatory headwinds. The project is only the third commercial offshore wind farm to operate in the country, following the 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm in Rhode Island and the 132-megawatt South Fork Wind off Long Island, but it dwarfs both predecessors in scale by a wide margin.
The milestone arrives at a politically contentious moment for the U.S. offshore wind industry. The same week CVOW began generating power, the Interior Department reached a $928 million agreement with TotalEnergies to relinquish offshore wind leases off New York and North Carolina, effectively canceling two planned projects. That contrast underscores the diverging fortunes of projects already under construction versus those still in the permitting or leasing phase.
For Virginia, the project is expected to bring long-term economic benefits, including operational jobs and reduced reliance on fossil fuel price volatility. When fully operational, CVOW’s 2.6 gigawatts of capacity will represent a meaningful addition to the mid-Atlantic region’s power supply at a time when electricity demand is rising sharply due to data center construction and industrial expansion.