VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Connecticut-based Avangrid is touting the economic benefits of a proposed wind-energy project off the Corolla coast, with the offshore cables for it coming ashore in Sandbridge, in Virginia Beach.
“This region really needs some big-scale clean energy solutions, big enough to power the new homes and businesses that are coming to it,” said Ken Kimmell, Avangrid’s chief development officer. “It’s capable of providing 3.5 gigawatts of clean, renewable energy to the Central Atlantic, Virginia and North Carolina.”
The project would install 180 wind turbine generators off the coast of Corolla.
The largest offshore wind farm to date in the U.S., to be located about 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast, received federal approval last fall.
Avangrid released a new economic study it commissioned about the project’s benefits.
It suggests the project would bring jobs and millions in tax revenue.
“There’s a lot of surveying, design and engineering work that will happen in order to get all the onshore construction work ready,” Kimmell said. “Then, there are hundreds, if not thousands of jobs building the substation, putting the electric cables in the ground, all of those types of activities. Then, there are operations and maintenance … there’s also very significant offshore work.”
Kimmell said that “for the city of Virginia Beach in particular, just the tax revenue alone is predicted to be $275 million, so it’s going to provide the city with a very predictable stream of revenue that would find welcome at this point.”
Avangrid says the $275 million in tax revenue would average about $7 million per year over 40 years.
Avangrid’s economic study said the impact on the Commonwealth could be $4.8 billion and create more than 12,000 jobs, more than 9,500 of which would be right here in Hampton Roads.
The study said the economic impact for Hampton Roads could be $4 billion and $1.2 billion in Virginia Beach.
However, residents in Sandbridge are concerned about the project.
It would require offshore wind cables to come ashore and put underneath the parking lot close to the Sandbridge Market.
Residents raised those concerns in a Virginia Beach City Council meeting last year.
“Their project puts our investment at risk,” said resident Joe Bourne. “The proposed construction will have a direct impact on property values tourism and tax revenues, despite the assurances. As much as 500 million during construction and beyond. This is a major disruption to our life and livelihoods.”
Some residents talked about the potential health impacts.
Kimmell said the construction impacts of putting the cables underground would be temporary.
“There are temporary construction impacts,” Kimmell said. “There will be some noise and some disruption. We think we can get it all done in one construction season. It won’t happen over the summer, for example, so it’s a temporary impact. Once all that work is done, though, it’s buried under the ground, you won’t see it, you won’t hear it, you won’t experience it.
“In terms of the health effects, there are these things called electromagnetic fields that people are talking about, but that’s really something that you see from overhead electric wires. These are going to be cables embedded in concrete well under the ground,” Kimmell said.
He told 10 On Your Side they hope to build support for the project.
“We need to build support,” Kimmell said. “There’s no doubt about that. I think one of the things is to show what the benefits are, because we’re hearing about the construction impacts, and that’s real, although it’s temporary. We need to look at the flip side. What are the benefits of this project? And I think that all the tax revenue, all the jobs, and other things that we’re putting on the table should compensate for those impacts.”
He said he would like to have a conversation with residents in the area.
“We’d especially be interested in a conversation with folks in Sandbridge about whether some of those revenue streams could be devoted to things that would improve the quality of life in Sandbridge,” he said. “So I think there’s a win, win here that’s still to be negotiated.”
Kimmell said the project still needs the federal government to give the OK. He said Avangrid needs the Virginia Beach City Council to approve the cables that have to go underground.
The upcoming city council agenda doesn’t mention a time to discuss the project. The council previously signaled it would not let the cables come ashore.
“They’ve stated that they are going to go back to the drawing board and see what they can do to address some of the concerns that they’ve heard,” City Manager Patrick Duhaney said in a November city council meeting. “But I think from right now, we’ve basically more or less communicated to them that we don’t tend to see there is a tremendous amount of support for that project moving forward.”
10 On Your Side contacted the Sandbridge Beach Civic League about their thoughts on the economic impact but haven’t heard back.