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The Interior Ministry said the project would be capable of supplying electricity to about 900,000 homes, while Dominion Energy, the utility company that owns the project, estimated the number at 660,000 homes, without generating any carbon dioxide emissions.
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| Wind farm construction materials are unloaded at the Port of Portsmouth, Virginia. Photo: CNA |
The administration of US President Joe Biden has just approved the project to build the largest offshore wind farm ever, capable of providing clean energy to hundreds of thousands of households in the future.
Specifically, Dominion Energy's offshore wind project in Virginia is located 23.5 nautical miles off Virginia Beach with an estimated total capacity of 2.6 GW. The Department of the Interior said the project is capable of supplying electricity to about 900,000 households, while Dominion Energy estimates the number at 660,000 households, without generating any carbon dioxide emissions.
This is the fifth offshore wind project approved by the Biden administration. The company is continuing to deliver the project on schedule and on budget, with 176 wind turbines scheduled to be installed in early 2024 and completed by the end of 2026, said Bob Blue, president and CEO.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the decision demonstrates the government 's commitment to a clean energy future that is resilient to the climate crisis and lowers energy costs.
The project is expected to create about 900 jobs a year during construction and support about 1,100 jobs annually once it begins operations, according to the NYT. However, the project has been criticized by environmentalists because in September, the US government also green-lighted three new oil and gas exploration leases in the Gulf of Mexico, raising concerns that the decision will cause climate change.
The US aims to reach 30 GW of wind power capacity by 2030. This is part of the ambition to build a carbon-free energy sector by 2035 and a carbon-free economy by 2050.
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