CEAC-2022-06-June
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News<br />
Ratepayer Advocates Seek Protections in<br />
Offshore Wind Case By Sarah Rankin | Associated Press<br />
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — State regulators considering whether<br />
to approve Dominion Energy Virginia’s plans for a nearly $10<br />
billion offshore wind farm should implement protections to<br />
shield customers from possible cost overruns and other project<br />
risks, ratepayer advocates testified Tuesday, May 17.<br />
No party to the proceeding is asking that the State Corporation<br />
Commission reject outright the planned 176-turbine<br />
project off the coast of Virginia Beach, which the company<br />
says will be the country’s largest. But attorneys representing<br />
the utility’s customers and environmental groups have<br />
sought to make the case that because of the project’s enormous<br />
cost and complexity, commissioners should consider<br />
protections like a cost cap or independent monitor.<br />
“Let’s be honest — this is a $9.65B construction project<br />
where we will be digging 176 holes in the middle of the<br />
ocean. There are risks,” said Carrie Grundmann, an attorney<br />
representing Walmart in the proceedings.<br />
The SCC heard hours of testimony and cross-examination<br />
May 17, at the start of a multiday evidentiary hearing.<br />
Dominion, which already has a two-turbine pilot project<br />
up and running, filed an application with the commission<br />
in November seeking approval and cost recovery for the<br />
commercial-scale project. It’s part of an ongoing shift in the<br />
company’s generation mix toward a greater proportion of<br />
renewables.<br />
But attorneys for several parties that have not signed on to<br />
the proposed agreement urged the commissioners to consider<br />
other protections.<br />
Meade Browder, from the Office of the Attorney General’s<br />
Division of Consumer Counsel, said the proposed agreement<br />
offered little more than Dominion’s initial position.<br />
The wind farm, he said, will be the most costly single project<br />
undertaken by any regulated utility in the country, with the<br />
exception of Southern Company’s Vogtle nuclear plant in<br />
Georgia, which has faced lengthy delays and cost overruns.<br />
Dominion’s offshore wind project is also the country’s only<br />
one in development that’s owned and operated by a vertically<br />
integrated monopoly utility, he said, putting Dominion’s<br />
captive ratepayers uniquely at risk.<br />
In previously filed testimony, an expert witness for the AG’s<br />
office has recommended required periodic status reports and<br />
Attorneys representing Dominion said May 17 that the<br />
utility has met all statutory requirements for approval of the<br />
project, which has drawn broad support from local officials,<br />
policymakers, business groups and trade unions.<br />
The project will “propel Virginia to the head of the race<br />
towards a clean energy future,” creating jobs and positioning<br />
the state as a leader in the burgeoning offshore wind<br />
industry, said Vishwa Link, an attorney from the law firm<br />
McGuireWoods representing the company.<br />
Dominion is urging the commission to approve a proposed<br />
agreement it reached with several other parties to the<br />
proceeding — the Sierra Club, Nansemond Indian Nation<br />
and corporation commission staff — which was unveiled in a<br />
recent filing.<br />
The proposed stipulation agreement says no construction<br />
costs in excess of $9.65 billion would be approved in connection<br />
with the pending proceeding; anything above that<br />
would require separate approval. It includes reporting<br />
requirements about the project’s performance and reporting<br />
requirements should the project’s timeline or cost estimates<br />
change.<br />
8<br />
| Chief Engineer