By Jerry Bellune 
JerryBellune@yahoo.com
Can we expect wind farms off the SC coast?
Probably some time soon.
Dominion Energy plans a $7.8 billion wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia coast.
That’s far less expensive than the $10 billion nuclear reactor project eventually abandoned in Fairfield County without ever producing a kilowatt of electricity.
Dominion started its offshore twin-turbine pilot project this year, according to energy consultant Jim Clarkson of Resource Supply Management.
If successful, Dominion is likely to look for other offshore wind farm options.
The project is undergoing Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s technical review before it can officially generate electricity.
Dominion Energy announced Dec. 21 that it had filed the required construction and operations plan to build the 2,640-megawatt coastal Virginia offshore wind commercial project.  
Construction is to begin in 2024 with projected completion by 2026.
Another offshore wind farm is underway off the North Carolina coast.
Developer Avangrid Renewables has submitted a construction and operations plan for what could be NC’s 1st off-shore wind farm 27 miles off the Outer Banks. 
An economic impact study, predicts $2 billion in economic impact and nearly 800 construction jobs. 
 Much of that benefit will be in Virginia, where a massive cable will link a power station to the wind farm.
The project called Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind depends on finding a buyer.
Neither Dominion nor Duke Energy are commenting on the project.