Dominion Energy awards CVOW cable monitoring contract

Luna Innovations (Luna) has been awarded a contract to provide monitoring services for the largest offshore wind project in the United States, Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.

Luna’s EN.SURE long-range power cable sensing system will be used to monitor the wind farms’ export cable system, which will transport electricity to shore.

The system combines fiber-optic based Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) Systems and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Systems that should help Dominion ensure the constant operation of its CVOW project by monitoring temperature and acoustics along the entirety of the project’s cable circuit.

The Luna system will also be used to identify potential hotspots in and external threats to the project, such as anchor drag from nearby ships, the company said.

The system will also provide depth-of-cable-burial information that can help Dominion protect and optimise the project’s operations.

“The technology that we’re able to provide will ensure the integrity of the project’s operations and support efficient delivery of energy into more than half a million Virginia homes and businesses”, said Scott Graeff, President and CEO of Luna.

Located 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach, CVOW will comprise 176 Siemens Gamesa 14 MW wind turbines with the installation scheduled to begin in 2024.

Once fully constructed in 2026, the 2.6 GW project will displace as much as five million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, which is the carbon equivalent of removing one million non-electric cars from the road each year, said Luna.