VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The company behind a wind project off the Virginia and North Carolina coast is touting thousands of potential jobs created and hundreds of millions in tax revenue in a new study.
According to the study from Avangrid released Thursday, the Kitty Hawk Wind project would bring $4.8 billion in economic impact and 12,166 cumulative jobs within Virginia over 40 years, with nearly 9,600 of those in the Hampton Roads region.
In Virginia Beach alone, the economic impact is forecasted at $1.2 billion with 2,401 cumulative jobs during the same period, the study said. The city's cumulative tax revenue is estimated to total $274.8 million.
The proposed project would involve building an offshore wind farm located more than 27 miles off the coast of Corolla, North Carolina, and 36 miles off the coast of the Sandbridge community in Virginia Beach. The energy company says the farm would generate enough electricity to power around a million homes.
"Through the development, construction, and operation of this project, Avangrid will be a committed partner to Virginia Beach, ensuring the city realizes the full economic benefit of Kitty Hawk Wind while helping Hampton Roads emerge as a regional hub for offshore wind," Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra wrote in a news release accompanying the study's release.
The study comes as members of the Sandbridge community have expressed opposition to the project due to plans for electricity cables to run underground in the area, which would connect to a power station in the Corporate Landing Business Park, according to previous 13News Now coverage.
Members of the Sandbridge Beach Civic League voted against Avangrid's plan in 2022 with the hopes that the cables would be rerouted, and not necessarily in opposition to offshore wind in general.
A spokesperson for the City of Virginia Beach said city council members last discussed the project during their meeting on Nov. 21, 2023, but the company did meet with Mayor Bobby Dyer and City Manager Patrick Duhaney in January.
During the November City Council meeting, Duhaney acknowledged that the project currently doesn't seem to have a lot of community support to go forward.
Several council members expressed concerns about how the project would affect people living in Sandbridge, with Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson saying it would disrupt what she described as "the fragile community of Sandbridge," which has water on both sides.
In a letter addressed to Dyer and Duhaney Thursday, Avangrid executive Ken Kimmell wrote that the company could do better at "sharing information, countering misinformation, listening to the needs of the community, and finding common ground."
Kimmell also wrote that the project is offering for consideration a "sizable host community benefit payment" to the city, which the company envisions as a payment "in the tens of millions of dollars." These types of payments are used to mitigate the impacts of large infrastructure projects and other types of development, according to Columbia Law School.
Despite the challenges, many in the Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads business community have expressed their support for the project, which is the second wind project in the works in the Hampton Roads region.
“Our support of offshore wind energy is the biggest opportunity we have in Virginia Beach to be a leader in providing an alternative to fossil fuels for energy generation and doing our part to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are fueling climate change,” Lynnhaven River NOW Executive Director Karen Forget wrote in a news release.
Hampton Roads Chamber CEO and President Bryan Stephens has also expressed his support, saying energy supply is critical to maintaining and growing the regional economy.
“The Kitty Hawk Wind Project has the potential to supply our growing energy needs, provide new tax revenue to the City of Virginia Beach, and help the state meet the clean energy goals of 100 percent renewable electricity supply by 2045," Stephens wrote, referring to requirements outlined in the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
13News Now has reached out to the Sandbridge Beach Civic League for comment but didn't get an immediate response before this article was published.
