Chief Patron: BaCote
Offshore Wind Energy

Item 120 #1h

Language
Page 96, line 2, strike "$2,412,973" and insert "$3,912,973".
Page 96, line 20, after "the first year" insert: "and $1,500,000 the second year"
Page 96, line 22, after "Area." insert:
"Funding provided in the second year shall be used as fifty percent matching funds for the development of qualifying offshore wind projects.  Qualifying projects would include wind turbine electric generation facilities located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia.  Eligible costs shall include installation of meteorological buoys, avian surveys, benthic and other biological surveys and archaeological and geophysical surveys."

Explanation
(This amendment provides $1.5 million in the second year to leverage private and federal funds for increased data gathering to improve Virginia's position relative to other states in attracting the offshore wind industry to Virginia. Virginia has been selected as one of three states included in the first-ever renewable energy lease sale on the outer continental shelf, and has been awarded funding from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a geological survey of Virginia's Wind Energy Area. Data gathering activities that can accurately quantify the wind resource in this location is one of the first undertakings of the permitting process and is essential to understanding the economics of the project.)