Dominion offshore wind project paused over cited national security concerns

by Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury
December 23, 2025

Dominion Energy’s massive Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, which is nearing completion, has been put on pause after the U.S. Department of Interior announced that “national security risks” were identified by the Department of Defense in classified reports.

According to a press release, the pause on offshore wind leases is intended to give the two departments time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess ways to mitigate the potential risks from the projects. The nature of those risks was not disclosed to the media. 

Dominion officials said the pause will last 90 days while the assessments are conducted. The announcement came just one day after a ship left port to begin installing the first turbines beyond the two pilot turbines that were built in 2020.

In response, Dominion raised concerns that delays to the project could worsen strains on the electric grid as energy demand continues to grow from the naval base, residential customers and the rapidly expanding data center industry.

“Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs,” Dominion said in a statement.

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is one of five major offshore wind projects now on hold. The $11 billion, 2.6 gigawatt project is designed to supply enough electricity to power more than  660,000 homes and is well into the construction phase, with the first turbines expected to be installed on their foundations in the coming weeks. The project includes a total of 176 turbines. 

Before the pause was announced, Dominion projected that the first power from the project would come online around the end of March.

“The project has been more than 10 years in the works, involved close coordination with the military, and is located 27 to 44 miles offshore, so far offshore it does not raise visual impact concerns. The project’s two pilot turbines have been operating for five years without causing any impacts to national security,” Dominion said.

This is not the first challenge the project has faced from the Trump Administration. In September, funding was pulled from several offshore wind projects and related port renovations. Those affected included the Norfolk Offshore Wind Logistics Port, also known as Fairwinds Landing, and the Portsmouth Marine Terminal Offshore Wind Development Project, both of which were already underway or had already spent the allocated funds.

The PMT project was intended to serve as part of the staging area for the CVOW project but ultimately was not impacted by the funding changes. U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Virginia Beach, has been pushing back in recent months to make sure the project moves forward.

“I have been working with the Department of the Interior and Gov. Youngkin for months to safeguard Virginia’s Coastal Offshore Wind Project, and I am deeply disappointed by this news. This new directive will negatively affect Hampton Roads, thousands of workers, and the amount of energy that can be produced. It will also undermine military readiness,” Kiggans said.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both Democrats, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, released a joint statement calling the move by the Trump Administration political:

“Despite our senior roles on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, the administration has failed to share any new information that supports this sudden and sweeping move to halt all offshore wind development, including a project off the coast of Virginia that is already almost complete and operational,” they said. “That silence speaks volumes, especially given the president’s longstanding, well-documented opposition to offshore wind.”

An order from the Department of Interior said previous unclassified reports had identified risks with offshore wind projects, including radar interference caused by the movement of turbine blades.

“Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers,” Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.

Dominion pushed back on the pause, arguing that completing the project is critical both to national security and to providing reliable power to the commonwealth.

“CVOW is essential for American national security and meeting Virginia’s dramatically growing energy needs, the fastest growth in America,” Dominion said. “This growth is driven by the need to provide reliable power to many of America’s most important war fighting installations, the world’s largest warship manufacturer, and the largest concentration of data centers on the planet as well as the leading edge of the AI revolution.”

Dominion customers are already paying for the project through their monthly electric bills after the State Corporation Commission approved the project in 2022. 

“Our customers are paying for the project after a careful review of project costs and benefits by Virginia state regulators in 2022. These same state regulators, along with numerous federal agencies, oversee our cyber and physical security program, which is among the strongest in the energy industry,” Dominion said.

The Office of Governor Glenn Youngkin could not immediately be reached for comment.

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