So, Dominion Energy is on the hunt again. They just dropped another one of their annual "Requests for Proposals," which is corporate-speak for "Please, someone, anyone, come build us some power plants before the lights go out." They want solar, they want wind, they want giant batteries. They'll even take your used landfill space. It’s all dressed up in the language of forward-thinking green strategy, but when you peel back the plastic wrap on the press release, it smells a little like desperation.
I mean, read the room. Their own guy, Aaron Ruby, says they’re seeing power demand jump by 5% every year. Five percent. That’s not a gentle upward curve; that’s a hockey stick pointed at the sky. So this whole "all of the above" strategy he’s touting? It sounds less like a well-considered plan and more like a panicked scramble. It’s the corporate equivalent of a college kid who’s slept through every lecture suddenly trying to absorb an entire semester's worth of knowledge the night before the final. They’re just grabbing every textbook—renewables, nuclear, natural gas—and hoping some of it sticks.
This isn't a bold vision. No, "bold" doesn't cover it—this is a five-alarm fire drill. They're not just asking for massive, utility-scale projects. They’re also looking to buy up little 3MW projects and slap solar panels on commercial rooftops and carports in cities. Why? To "reduce the load on the electric grid." Translation: The grid in our biggest cities is already groaning under the strain, and they’re trying to patch the holes with whatever they can find.
But what’s really driving this 5% surge? Is it just more people charging their Teslas and running their air conditioners? Or is it the massive, power-sucking data centers that are popping up all over Virginia like mushrooms after a rainstorm? The official statements are maddeningly vague on this point. And if it is the data centers, are we really supposed to believe that a few solar panels on a Walmart roof are going to make a dent? Give me a break.
The Whale-Dodging, Politic-Proof Wind Farm
Then you have the big showpiece: the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. It’s a beast—America’s biggest offshore wind farm will be online in six months, and it's 30 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. And to their credit, they’ve been building it at a breakneck pace. Imagine the scene out there: the constant clang of steel as they pile-drove 176 foundations into the seabed, a frantic race against a deadline set by the migration patterns of the North Atlantic right whale.
They had to get it done between May and October, or wait an entire year. They made it, thanks to a quiet hurricane season and, I guess, some very motivated workers. This wasn't just about the whales, offcourse. It was about politics. Getting those foundations in the ground before a potential new administration could throw a wrench in the works was clearly a top priority. They say they’re not worried about political interference, that the project has "bipartisan support."
And sure, you’ve got a local Republican congresswoman, Jen Kiggans, literally going to the House floor to defend a wind farm. She reportedly got the Speaker of the House to pass her concerns directly on to Trump. It’s a nice story. A little island of sanity in a sea of partisan nonsense. But how long does that last? Bipartisan support for green energy feels like a sandcastle built at low tide. It's solid for now, but you can see the waves coming. To hinge the energy future of a whole state on the hope that politicians will continue to be reasonable...
Maybe I'm just too cynical. But when a company’s spokesperson has to specifically point out that their project has support from both parties, it tells me the default assumption is that it wouldn't. They’re basically admitting they’re walking a political tightrope 100 feet in the air, and they want us to applaud them for not falling off yet. But the wind is picking up, and the rope is starting to sway.
This entire enterprise feels incredibly fragile. It’s a complex dance of engineering, environmental regulations, and political maneuvering. The CVOW project is a monument to what’s possible, but it’s also a monument to how ridiculously hard we make it. We need the power, the technology exists, but getting it built requires dodging whales, hurricanes, and presidents. It ain't a sustainable model. What happens when the weather doesn't cooperate next time, or when the political alliances shift?
Don't Hold Your Breath
Let's be real. Dominion Energy isn't some green-robed savior ushering in a new age of clean power out of the goodness of its corporate heart. They're a utility, a massive, entrenched institution, and they're doing what they have to do to survive. This whole push—the frantic RFPs, the rush to build offshore—is a reaction. They saw the demand curve going vertical and the regulatory environment shifting, and now they're playing catch-up. We're supposed to applaud them for finally waking up to a problem they, and companies like them, helped create? It's like thanking an arsonist for calling the fire department. Necessary, yes. Heroic? Not a chance.
