RICHMOND, Va.—A massive planned offshore wind farm will be built by union labor, the Dominion Energy company and three building-trades unions announced Jan. 29. Dominion, the Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and the Laborers International Union of North America Mid-Atlantic Region said they would negotiate a project labor agreement for the onshore electrical interconnection work for the first stage of the company’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. The 12-megawatt project, to be built 27 miles off Virginia Beach in collaboration with the Danish company Ørsted, will be the largest announced offshore wind project in the Western Hemisphere, Dominion and the unions said. “We look forward to working with our union partners on delivering the jobs, environmental and economic benefits of Virginia renewable energy,” Dominion CEO Thomas F. Farrell, II said in a statement. “This project will provide affordable, reliable, renewable energy for years to come,” said IBEW International President Lonnie R. Stephenson. “The use of local, skilled tradesmen and women will ensure that the project is built and installed to world-class standards of safety, efficiency, and quality.” It is expected to lead to a much larger offshore wind farm. Read more
