Areva hopes to develop Virginia wind projects

A state senator wants to clear the way for offshore wind energy projects in Virginia, which could help Areva develop a new manufacturing facility in the state.

Harnessing wind power was one topic that Virginia’s Manufacturing Development Commission discussed Tuesday in a meeting at Areva’s Old Forest Road office. Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, presented a draft of a bill that would create a state agency to coordinate offshore wind projects.

Kim Stein, Areva’s wind business development director, told the commission that Areva would like to build wind turbines in Virginia. Building and installing the structures could bring the state at least 8,000 manufacturing and construction jobs, he said.

Areva is best known in Virginia for its nuclear power operations. It manufactures nuclear power plant components in Campbell County and is building a facility in Newport News that will make nuclear reactor cores. The company also has a worldwide focus on renewable energy projects, including wind.

In 2007, Areva bought a wind turbine designer and manufacturer in Germany and has developed a plant there.

“Two years from now it’s going to be a $2 billion-a-year manufacturing facility,” Stein said.

This summer, Areva finished installing six wind turbines that stand 400 feet high in the North Sea off the coast of Germany, he said.

Areva has begun a study on manufacturing offshore wind components in the U.S., and would like to start a manufacturing plant in Virginia, Reid said. That depends on finding customers who want to develop offshore wind farms.

“We’re looking for help … to make this happen,” Reid said.

Potential locations for the plant were not discussed. But Wagner, who headed a study group that developed Virginia’s energy policy three years ago, said the turbines and their towers are so large they need to be built near the coast.

Wagner told the members of the commission, which includes eight legislators and several citizens, that Virginia is in a prime position for offshore wind energy projects.

He said Virginia has winds near its coast and in shallow water that could be harnessed for energy. Also, between Savannah, Ga., and New York, the only electrical substation near the coast with the capacity to receive huge amounts of power from a wind farm is in Virginia Beach, he said.

But Wagner worries that federal regulations, which control wind farms farther than three miles from the coast, could impede wind projects that would benefit Virginia. For example, if two entities apply to lease the same area of federal waters, regulations call for a two-year period before the lease is awarded, Wagner said.

Wagner wants to create a new state agency, called the Virginia Offshore Wind Project Development Commission, to solve that problem. The commission would coordinate offshore wind projects and be the applicant for leases or loan guarantees, then assign them to companies that would conduct the development. That would “get everyone on your team as a single applicant,” Wagner said.

The agency also would work on infrastructure to connect wind energy to the electricity grid.

Wagner gave the commission members a draft of a bill that would create the new agency. He said he still needs to work with the Department of Energy to make sure some of its provisions, such as assigning leases and loan guarantees to other entities, are allowed.

Wagner also said he would like for Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to create the commission with an executive order, allowing it to begin working before the next General Assembly session.

Wagner said he did not know before Tuesday that Areva was interested in building offshore wind components in the state, but he was pleased. Areva has not committed to building a new facility in Virginia, but “they certainly made it very clear that if they could see it through to getting them installed,” then a manufacturing facility could come.